Today’s hangRoom I · The Dutch Golden Age
No. 1 · Painting of the day
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
Johannes Vermeer
Note how the light from the window does all the work. Vermeer left fewer than forty paintings, and you are expected to hold an opinion on each.
Also on the wall today
Three things to say at the intervalThe word
Gesamtkunstwerk
guh·ZAHMT·koonst·vairk · German · noun, neuterA total work of art: one that unites music, poetry, drama and the visual arts into a single whole. Richard Wagner made the term famous in the mid-19th century.
“The staging was perfectly fine, but it never quite became a true Gesamtkunstwerk.”
Deliver with eyes half-closed. Works best at the interval.
Who said it?
“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.”
The faux pas
Applauding between movements.
The person beside you will say nothing. They will simply remember.
Today’s challenge
Begin the testSix questions. Most of the stalls would fail.
A perfect score earns the Aesthete of the Week badge.