How Travel Influences Your Fine Art: From London's National Gallery to Madrid's Prado.

Episode one. London’s National Gallery.

Long-standing relationships have enriched art and travel. Travelling introduces us to the unfamiliar, which shapes our worldview and creative efforts. Travel opens fresh doors for painters, sculptors, and writers to explore new subjects, colours, approaches, and perspectives.

Our latest stops were London's National Gallery and Madrid's Prado Museum. Both experiences were memorable, not just for the unique wall art but also for the location, history, and culture. These glorious journeys changed our view of art and how travel can inspire creativity. 

The National Gallery: A Journey Through Time

London's Trafalgar Square National Gallery has a rich artistic heritage. Experiencing the structure is like experiencing decades of creative excellence, not just a gallery. Nearly 2,300 paintings from the mid-13th to the 20th century are in the exhibition, showcasing Western art history.

Visitors to the National Gallery are struck by the grandeur of the artworks. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Turner, and Monet greet you in the rooms. However, seeing these masterpieces in person is indescribable. Prints lose textures, brushstrokes, and colour depth. The yellows and swirling swirls of Van Gogh's Sunflowers almost radiate his inner struggle and radiant intensity.

Such successful experiences profoundly affect artists. While I painted, I had several questions: What did the painter feel while making it? What obstacles did they face? How do these works reflect their political and social context? Each item has an art story, and each artist's journey may educate us. These transformative occurrences inspire us to be innovative and seek new ideas.

J.M.W. Turner's work affected me. In The Fighting Temeraire, Turner's use of light and emotion taught me to capture brief moments. His atmospheric paintings depict storm clouds and sunsets in motion. His work inspired me to reconsider texture and emotion in my oil paintings. Turner paints a scene as it feels and stays in the imagination long after it's gone. I learned from this that art might be more about emotion than fact.