Pictures At An Exhibition Poem by Christopher Tye

Pictures At An Exhibition

A gallery full of adventure and history,
Just look around you and imagine as you interpret the works,
Great biblical canvases to little miniatures in lockets,
Neo-Classical landscapes next to abstract works.

Great artists and local heroes vying for space,
Oil paintings by Turner next to Peter De Wint's Landscapes,
Holbein's Henry VIII hobnobbing with L. S. Lowry's mill scenes,
Photographs holding their own against old masters.

Old cathedrals standing above ancient cities,
Tumbled-down ruins saved for ever in water colours,
City streets captured in line and wash on paper,
Wild flower meadows captured in gouache on canvas.

Artists speaking through the rich palette of life,
Turner's "The Fighting Tamara" speaking so much you could spend a lifetime studying it,
Constable's "The Haywain" capturing a way of life long gone in England,
Picasso's "Gunica" speaking so much of the horrors of war you wonder why there's no peace.

The Old Masters still bringing joy to millions,
Hans Holbein's work still defining how we see Henry VIII,
Van Dyck's great portrait of King Charles I a national treasure,
Rembrandt's "The Night Watchman" how I wish that could hang on my wall.

The great renaissance painters ushering a new age of light,
Leonardo De Vinci still keeping us guessing as to how smart he was,
Michelangelo's works brining a serenity few can match,
Hieronymus Bosch's paintings still giving nightmares to young children.

Then there are the local museums with their ad hoc collections,
Prize cattle and long dead race horses preserved on canvases,
Locally famous artists who had a few pictures displayed at the Royal Academy,
A hundred and one views of the town by all and sundry.

By Christopher Tye