National Gallery and WarHorse! -- July 19, 2011

Tuesday, Molly, Carrie, and I went to the National Gallery.  It is a very large art museum that includes paintings from 1250 to the early 1900s.  Painters displayed in this museum include religious painters such as Botticelli, Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael.  It also includes painters such as Michelangelo, Monet, Titian, Constable, Turner, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt.   We weren't allowed to take pictures in this exhibit because I lot of the paintings are very old and harsh light further damages the already fragile masterpieces.  Light is not the only thing that is controlled in the Gallery.  The museum has strict control over the humidity and temperature of the galleries as well. I really enjoyed the gallery.  Some of the paintings are different from what I like but they were all very unique.  I especially enjoyed the paintings Manon Balletti by Jean-Marc Nattier and several by Monet, including The Beach at Trouville, Irises, and La Pointe de la Hève, Sainte-Adresse.  


After we left the National Gallery, Molly and I made our way over to the New London Theatre, located near Covent Garden.  There we stood in line for two hours for a sold out show called WarHorse.  WarHorse is  based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo.  It is a beautiful story about a beautiful bond of love between a young boy, Albert, who eventually becomes a military recruit and his horse.  Albert's mean, stupid, and drunk father sells Joey, the horse, to the military to be used in battle during WWI for 100 pounds. Albert finds out and is extremely mad.  He receives mail that the officer who was riding Joey was killed in action.  Albert immediately runs away, joins the military, and sets off on a journey to find Joey.  It is a very sweet story and I loved it.  They do not use actual horses in the play, instead they are made of metal and are controlled by people.  They look realistic and act so even more.  The sounds are so realistic and so are their movements.  After a few minutes, I forgot that they were not real horses. 

I didn't take these pictures, but I wanted to give you an idea of what the horses look like.  They are each controlled by 3 people.  2 for the front and back legs, and then one for the head and neck.  These people nailed the motions of a horse down to the ear twitches.  It is so amazing. All three work together to make the sounds of the horse. It is just so unbelievable and hard to describe.