Besides 'my' house in Leamington Spa, this is my favorite place in the Midlands.
The art collection and special exhibits are housed in a restored 18th-centuraly mansion surrounded by 120 acres of parkland which was landscaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown (c. 1715-16 -- 1783), known as "England's greatest gardener."
The grounds currently include this installation in the meadow by Morag Myerscough.
The rest of the grounds are peaceful and lovely, a beautiful place to spend the day.
I love museums that are small enough to see every piece in the collection, including special exhibits, which is the case at Compton Verney. The permanent collection includes a bunch of Renaissance Art. I'm not a huge fan of Renaissance Art, but for some reason, this collection was so vibrant and just... pretty... and of course weird, because those dudes were definitely weird.
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| Like I said, weird. |
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| I've been creeped out by the work of Cranach the Elder for years. |
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chunkster
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The first special exhibition was by David Batchelor: Colour Is.
The second special exhibition was Magnum Photos: Where Ideas are Born. This was a super-cool exhibit of journalistic photographs or some of my favorite artists in their studios.
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| Alexander Calder in his studio |
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| Keith Haring at work |
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| Andy Warhol in his studio |
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| Yayoi Kusama painting her famous dots |
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Roy Lichtenstein in his studio
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The last part of the permanent collection I visited was of British folk art. Again, I don't typically love folk art. It usually looks... messy to me. But I really liked much of this collection; it was weird and whimsical.
