There’s something very sexy about the hush of the art gallery, punctuated by the clack of heels on wooden floors; the breathless “Sorry, sorry,” as strangers edge close to one another for the optimum view of a nude. As any single gallery-goer knows, your soulmate could be just past the next Rembrandt. But alas, it’s not that simple. Imagine the moment; your ideal intellectual hoves into view past the Picasso, you turn, hand on chin, to muse on the work before you, which — the horror! — happens to be the deeply maudlin A Girl with a Dead Canary by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The moment has passed, along with your beloved. So, to avoid this tragedy, we asked the UK’s top curators to nominate their gallery’s most romantic work, in the name of Love.
1 ONE OF A SERIES
(JULIAN GERMAIN)
Chosen by Greg Hobson, Head of Exhibitions, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television
This is a particularly poignant image of handwritten notes, left by Julian’s friend Charlie for his wife to explain where he was if she came home before him. When she died, he kept the notes as an everyday memento of their life together.
Julian Germain’s For Every Minute You Are Angry You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness is at NMPFT, Bradford (www.nmpft.org.uk 0870 7010200) until Feb 26.
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2 JOHN DONNE
(ARTIST UNKNOWN)
Chosen by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery
The portrait of Donne is one of the most romantic paintings anywhere in the world. It shows the writer emerging from the shadows with suggestively unlaced collar and the inscription, “O Lady, lighten our darkness”. With the public’s help we are hoping to buy this compelling image for the nation but we have only until the end of June to raise the money.
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2 (www.npg.org.uk 020-7306 0055)
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3 ZRÁNÍ
(OSKAR KOKOSCHKA)
Chosen by Richard Calvocoressi, Director, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
This painting shows a nude bather in a pool, with a curious Cupid-like figure behind her and a dozing man with a dog. The atmosphere is warm, sleepy, erotic. I think it’s a love picture: love for the woman whom Kokoschka would later marry, and nostalgic love for the country he had left behind (Czechoslovakia). It was given to the National Gallery of Scotland in 1942 by the Czech Government in Exile.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh (www.nationalgalleries.org 0131-624 6200)
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4 VENUS AND ADONIS
(DUNCAN GRANT)
Chosen by Simon Groom, Head of Exhibitions, Tate Liverpool
I love her pose, that a figure subject to such contortions should also seem so relaxed, so bendy and pink, as though fashioned from bubblegum, and only on further looking do you finally notice the tiny figure of Adonis, seemingly lost in her voluptuous languor.
Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool (www.tate.org.uk 0151-702 7400)
5 VIGNETTE II
(KERRY JAMES MARSHALL)
Chosen by Elisabetta Fabrizi, Curator, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
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When you look at this painting, the love between the two figures feels very real. The artist’s use of the Rococo style also brings to mind a romanticised idea of love. The work is powerful and romantic at the same time.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead (www.balticmill.com 0191-478 1810)
THE BEST OF THE REST
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COMB, C 1500
Chosen by Sylvia Crawley, History Curator, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
“How much do I love you?” Enough, it seems, to give you a nit comb. Perhaps not an ideal gift for today’s lovers, but 500 years ago this beautiful comb was an expensive love token. It features a carved play on words featuring a heart and hart, an indication that although it was probably a French craftsman who made it, the recipient was an English lady.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham (www.bmag.org.uk 0121-303 2834)
MAUD MESSEL’S GOING-AWAY HAT
Chosen by Eleanor Thompson, Curator of Costume & Textiles, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
This is a very romantic hat, covered in pink and lilac blooms, with practically half a dove attached to it. Messel wore it when she went off on her honeymoon. She and her husband exchanged love letters throughout a very long and happy marriage.
Museum & Art Gallery, Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton (www.brighton.virtualmuseum 01273 290900)
THE VIRGIN & CHILD WITH THE INFANT ST JOHN
(MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI)
Chosen by Norman Rosenthal, Exhibitions Secretary, Royal Academy of Arts
There is a romantic corner of the Royal Academy of Arts which one can recommend to lovers of all ages. This is in the Gill and Arthur Sackler Wing of galleries. Here one finds the only sculpture by Michelangelo in the UK, The Tondo. It shows St John clutching a small bird and the Christ Child running away in apparent terror. The Madonna herself is strong yet very delicate — a woman to inspire great love.
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London W1 (www.royalacademy.org.uk 020-7300 8000)
THE KISS
(RODIN)
Chosen by Sophie Howarth,Curator, Public Programmes, Tate Modern
Rodin’s Kiss is the quintessential erotic artwork. Its roughly hewn and silky smooth textures; its movement and stillness; its surfaces and crevasses all combine to suggest the frisson that exists between explicit affection and private emotion. It’s very hard to keep your eyes off it!
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 (www.tate.org.uk 020-7887 8888)
FISHERMAN’S FAREWELL
(CHRISTOPHER WOOD)
Chosen by Chris Stephens, Curator, Modern British Art/Head of Displays, Tate Britain
Christopher Wood’s Fisherman’s Farewell is a touching scene of a man saying goodbye to his wife and child. The composition draws all three figures together which, with the tight viewpoint, gives the work extra poignancy and intensity, suggesting that the wee child draws the couple closer together.
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1 (www.tate.org.uk 020-7887 8888)