Whistlejacket

Today I took care of multiple work-related tasks and after lunch hurried to Helsinki Contemporary to see an art exhibition called Whistlejacket. The paintings are by a wonderful Finnish painter, Anna Retulainen, and they were amazing. These paintings are mainly of horses and her inspiration has been one painting in particular, Whistlejacket by British artist George Stubbs. It's an amazing story, he painted this racehorse owned by the Marquess of Rockingham in 1762 against a blank canvas. This was unheard of then, the blank background, and even when you look at it today it seems almost like pop art, trendy even. You get stuck in the painting, it's very 3-D, showing this beautiful animal in all it's glory. He made the painting huge, a size of a wall really, which added the effect, and so did Retulainen. I haven't seen the original, only in pictures, it's in the National Gallery in London. Maybe next summer when I'm going over there. I'll post a link here so you can take a look at the painting that haunted Anna Retulainen to make her own, beautiful, colourful versions.

George Stubbs: The Whistlejacket

If you got interested, the exhibition is there until 3.2. Enjoy!!