Soundscapes: an extraordinary synthesis of vision and sound orchestrated by the National Gallery. Recommended by my friend Lucie, Eliza and I were lucky enough to go to this exhibition on its last day. Neither of us had ever been to an exhibition focusing on this kind of synesthesia, and I hope that there will be more exhibitions of this kind in the future. For my final IB art project for which I made a silkscreen dress, I was influence by ‘The Arrival of the Birds’ by the Cinematic Orchestra which I then incorporated into a film of the completed dress combined with the skies and the birds which had inspired it. My dress became a visual representation of the song, while in this exhibition we had the same in reverse. Similarly, I have often been to concerts and been inspired for how to progress in an art project while listening to the music. I think that the complete experience of an exhibition is going to become more important, as we saw in the amazing sellout Alexander McQueen exhibition held at the V&A.
The exhibition began with an introductory film containing clips of the artists providing the background to the music inspired by works of art usually displayed in the permanent collection of the National Gallery. It is this sort of context which gives the work a third dimension and makes us appreciate the thought process of these musicians.
Each room was sound proofed so that we were not distracted by other music. Furthermore, each painting was shown in isolation in a well lit, dark walled space allowing us to completely submerge ourselves in the experience of the painting with the music. It was such a privilege to see the paintings in this way. For me, the way that Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Lady with an Ermine’ was displayed displayed in isolation in Wawel Castle in Kraków intensified our profound connection with the exquisite girl in the portrait, even more so because Mary and I were the only people in the room. Being the last day and a Sunday, the National Gallery was busy but I felt that it needed a large audience to create a stage for the paintings. As there were only six works, we weren’t overwhelmed by having too much to see and could wander through the rooms experiencing each one fully.
The first piece transported us to the ethereal waters of Lake Keitele, enclosing us in the rustling trees accompanied by a chorus of birdsong. Chris Watson has worked with David Attenborough on several occasions and is a wildlife sounds specialist.
In the next room we were met by Holbein’s Ambassadors. Scottish composer Susan Philipsz channelled the discord of the painting, subtly created by elements such as the broken loot, into her piece. Violins, each with three strings rather than four, drew out notes as haunting and elongated as the eery skull which becomes upright when we look at it from the side – a remarkable optical illusion which enhances this painting’s strange tension.
The third piece was created by Nico Muhly to mirror the Wilton Diptych. He echoes its layering of gilding and detail upon detail in the building up of notes. There are four distinct melodies which represent the four different panels of the painting. The explanation from the film was essential to our appreciation of the music and the painting together. However, I felt that the sound should have an older sound to emphasis the incredible age of this work which has endured through the ages.
The fourth work in the exhibition was an architectural reinterpretation of a painting. Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller painstakingly examined Antonello’s ‘St Jerome in his Study’ to create a three dimensional model. They wanted us to feel as if we had stepped into the painting both visually and from the sounds of the rippling lake and birds. Comparing the painting and the model was like spot the difference – the lion had padded away but details such as the terracotta flower pot and wooden clogs had been recreated. I appreciated their endeavour, however, I didn’t feel that its impact was as great as the two last pieces, both of which captured perfect union between sight and sound.
Gabriel Yared’s ensemble of strings, piano and female soprano voice melted into Paul Cezanne’s Bathers; the strings breathed through the reeds, the piano rippled the water and the soprano voice clothed the bathers in harmony. This intense stimulation of senses was hypnotic – we wanted to keep looking until the end of the song, waiting for silence and stillness.
The final piece by Jamie xx was our favourite. While Yared’s classical and minimalist arrangement fitted the classical subject of the bathers and its modernist depiction, Jamie xx’s piece is as fresh and exciting as pointillism was at the time when Georges Seurat pioneered the technique. The band The xx brought out their debut album, which reached number 3 in the UK, in 2009 when they were only 18. They sold over 100,000 copies of their second album which was UK number 1. He has appropriately called this piece ‘Ultramarine,’ which literally means ‘beyond the sea.’ He goes beyond Van Ryaselbergue’s pointillist Coastal Scene, invigorating it with his music. Just as the dots of paint build up to create a shimmering whole, the notes, distinct as the paint, layer on top of each other to form the song. The melodies come in waves, the crescendos crashing against the shore and sweeping above like the lilac clouds. What I love is that he has captured the spirit of the ocean and the way that the artist saw it rather than focusing on very specific details as other musicians did in the exhibition. The music and the painting enhance one another and we do not have to strain to find connections, they simply bubble and bounce off one another.
Map Memories 