Discover Constable and The Hay Wain

Interesting exhibition at the National Gallery focusing on “The Hay Wain” by Constable.

I like these small shows focusing on a single painting and putting it into context. This time it sets the famous Constable against other paintings of rural life at the time as well as discussing the politics of the countryside.

The show began with a selection of earlier and contemporary work including a beautiful Stubbs of reapers. It also included satirical cartoons of the time to represent the politics issues of the era.

The main section looked at Constable himself with commentaries on his early work, how he created the actual picture and his later work. It included sketches made outdoors of the scene, the initial small compositional painting and the paint sketch to scale. It was fascinating to see the compositional choices he made at the different stages.

It was a lovely touch to include some small carved figures believed to be by Constable and the gold medal awarded to the painting in 1824 at The Salon in Paris.

The work is such a cliché now it is good to step back and take a new look at it properly. I love the detail and expression in the figures.

Closes 2 February 2025


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