Info

• Opens Mon May 25 2026
• 90 minutes

Synopsis

An Introduction to Modern Art: Art on the Rhine

(Image J M W Turner: The Pfalz on the Rhine, 1817)

This series of talks takes us on an imaginary journey down the Rhine, exploring artists and artworks connected to the region.

Beginning in the Netherlands, we’ll examine the work of two of the Dutch masters, Vincent van Gogh and Johannes Vermeer.

Passing through Germany, we’ll stop at Brühl and Cologne, cities linked to the German surrealist Max Ernst. From Cologne, we’ll travel to Koblenz, retracing a journey once taken by J M W Turner.

Finally, arriving in France, we’ll stop at Strasbourg, the birthplace of the abstract artist Jean Arp, before making our way to the Musée Unterlinden, home to the Isenheim Altarpiece, a masterpiece of the Northern Renaissance.

Johannes Vermeer

Vermeer is the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Famed for works including The Geographer, The Art of Painting and The Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer perfected a descriptive art, an everyday realism that has little in common with the narrative tradition of

the Italian Renaissance.

Vincent van Gogh

Underappreciated in his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh is now a world-famous artist, revered for his self-portraits and sunflowers. This talk considers those works, while foregrounding another aspect of his practice – his paintings of trains, factories and belching chimneys,

canvases that speak of a more complex intersection of nature, landscape and the industrialised world.

Max Ernst

Max Ernst was the founder of the Cologne Dada movement and a leading Surrealist painter.

Working in painting, collage and sculpture, he pioneered new experimental techniques, including frottage and the collaged novel. This talk follows his remarkable career, which took him from Germany to France and America.

J. M. W. Turner

Turner is arguably Britain’s greatest painter, but his work was frequently stimulated by his trips abroad. This talk follows Turner’s travels down the Rhine, looking at how tourism and romanticism informed his work.

Jean (Hans) Arp

Arp was a founding member of the Dada movement and a pioneer of Surrealist abstraction. He is best known for his use of change and his biomorphic paintings and sculpture, which influenced the work of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Arp: the Plasters is on at Leeds City Galleries from 22 May to 4 October 2026.

The Northen Renaissance

This talk examines the Northen Renaissance, which differed greatly from its Southern counterpart. It considers the invention of oil paint, the rise of realism and the birth of landscape and genre art, while looking at specific artworks by the likes of Albrecht Dürer, Jan Van Eyck and Matthias Grünwald.

Wednesdays 10.30am-12pm:

16th, 23rd and 30th September 2026

7th, 14th and 21st October

Cost for 6-week course £54.00

Wharfeside Theatre