Day 27: National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada, like the National Gallery, London, does not allow photography, therefore it is difficult to report on their collection because it is hard to remember what we saw. Overall, I was impressed by the number of important paintings that I recognized from art books.

The rarest work in their collection is Lot and His Daughters by Orazio Gentilleschi, a truly super painting, which was right at eye level. I managed to steal a shot, rather blurry, of this one painting.

Orazio Gentileschi
Lot and His Daughters

The museum's pride and joy is the original version of The Death of General Wolfe by American painter Benjamin West. He also made five copies of this work; we photographed one at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The original is by far the best. It is an excellent example of historical style, not too histrionic. 

On the opposite wall hangs George Morland's The Wreckers, a very readable and atmospheric drama of reclaiming spoils from a shipwreck. George Morland was English.

The collection was strong on Impressionism, including surprisingly good works by Monet, a handful of very pretty pieces by Pissarro. Among the forerunners of the Impressionists, there were some nice pieces by Corot and Courbet. For post-Impressionism, they had a famous painting of a single iris by van Gogh.

All these fine works are scattered amongst a lot of second and third tier art, and it took a discriminating eye to spot them.

One of the big advantages of our itinerary is that it allows us to compare the styles of several important contemporary architects. In Toronto we saw museum wings designed by Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind.

The National Gallery here in Ottawa was designed from scratch in 1988 by Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie, whose work we had previously admired at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, and also at the Telfair Museum in Savannah.

One of the characteristics of Safdie's style, in contrast with Libeskind and Gehry, is that his buildings blend with their surroundings, with only modest marks of distinction. For this building, he used gray concrete blocks, which harmonize with the gray stone buildings around it.

In front of the museum is a monumental sculpture of an egg-carrying spider.

Maman 1999, cast 2003 by Louise Bourgeois

The building's main aesthetic feature is a series of light wells—small rotundas with tall glass cupolas—for the display of sculpture. Unfortunately the largest of these was having its glass replaced. On the outside it was enshrouded in a blue tent that made it look like an iceberg. On the inside, the large rotunda had been fitted with a protective ceiling that blocked the light.

Architect: Moshe Safdie

Ugo Rondinone, b. 1963
we run through a desert on burning FEET, all of us are glowing our faces look twisted, 2009

Safdie is capable of innovative and handsome effects. This reflecting pool is also transparent, so it lets light into the gallery below, and from there, the water rippling overhead is otherworldly.

Transparent reflecting pool

The serious weakness of Safdie's design is the long, blank corridors and ramps the visitor is forced to walk. His use of gray concrete block, with very little decoration or art for relief, made walking tedious as well as tiring.

One of many long blank hallways at the National Gallery

From the museum's cafeteria we could see broad expanses of lawn sloping down toward the river. Across the river the Parliament building looked very picturesque. Dan bolted from the building with his camera to get some shots.

My experience of the National Gallery was affected by the fact that upset digestion was causing me a lot of grief. I was reeling from gallery to gallery, not knowing what was wrong with me and trying to be brave. Lunch gave me some relief but I was so exhausted that I bailed about 3 p.m. and called a taxi; it arrived within a few minutes. Back at the hotel, Alka-Seltzer had a magic effect. I now think that an errant piece of grapefruit hidden under the yogurt in my fruit salad this morning set off an acid attack.

I hated to miss so much time at the museum. Dan said that he enjoyed the Canadian collection.