Love & Desire:
National Gallery
of Australia
Love & Desire: Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces from the Tate, opening in December and exclusive to Canberra, is something of a coup for this country. The exhibition includes iconic paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite period, such as John Everett Millais’ Ophelia and John William Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott. These are “some of the most loved and visited paintings at Tate, some of which have never before been seen in Australia”, says National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich. The movement was formed in 1848 by qa group of rebellious young artists who set out to emulate the spirit of early Renaissance art in protest against what they regarded as the mundane conventions of the day. These artists adopted a radical style, painting directly from the motif in brilliant, clear colours, and building each form in thin layers with small brushes.
Alongside more than 40 of Tate Britain’s best-loved works, a further 40 loans from British and Australian collections will show the themes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in an expansive exhibition that explores the differing styles of the artists, the importance of draftsmanship and the collaborative work involved in the applied arts central to the movement. Love & Desire: Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces from the Tate opens December 14, 2018 and runs until April 28, 2019 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
