TATE-r tots are delicious

(Entry to the Tate Britain. The blurry part says TATE.)

London surprised me this afternoon in a pleasant way. Let's just say that I wasn't having the best morning, and I was tempted to stay around ISH and sulk, but I didn't. I ventured out into the wide world and was rewarded with the best possible place I could've gone: the www.tate.org.uk/britain/">Tate Britain. The TB is a (free!) museum that exclusively features British art. It is divided into two main sections: one highlighting art from 1500-1900, and one dedicated to art after 1900. I expored the first section today (I like to do things chronologically), and took as much time as was necessary to examine the pieces and read the curiatorial paragraphs in an attempt to gain a real understanding of the differnt stages of British art. The museum traces the evolution of British art, dividing the rooms by styles: portraiture, landscape, Romanticism, Orientalism, the Pre-raphialites, and Victorian spectacle. There were also special rooms exhibiting works of John Constable and John Singer Sargent, amongst others.

The TB was an ideal place for me to go today because it has a lot of beautiful art. It's just that simple. Except it's not simple because a lot of the styles shown at the Tate are intricate and exaggerated and sumptuous. They just happen to be aesthetically pleasing on top of all of that. And personally, if I'm going to spend a couple of hours looking at art, I'd prefer it to be at least slightly aesthetically pleasing. I think I was also so taken with the pieces at the TB because they are sort of a big change from a lot of the art that we've been looking at lately; I mean, portraiture is about as far from contemporary as you can get. Although, these styles were techinically contemporary at one point, and some of them were even controvertial. So I guess that demonstrates how it's not just our generation that's pushing boundries; it has happened in the past, is obviously happening now, and will continue on, I'm sure. I just wonder what the future of (pleasant) aesthetics will include. The present state of art (no offense intended) inspires me to pose the question, are aesthetics dying out? I hope not.