National Museum and Gallery
On Tuesday evening I go over to the National Museum and Gallery for the official opening of the ‘Industry to Impressionism’ exhibition whose aim it is to tell the remarkable story of the Davies sisters, Gwendoline and Margaret, and their travels in Europe purchasing pictures which they subsequently gave to the nation and which are now housed in the National Museum and Gallery in Cathays Park. It is an exhibition which demonstrates their vision and idealism.
I speak to Mike Toobey of the Museum and he tells me that the conception of this exhibition was some six years ago and that there has been an enormous amount of research and delving into archives, not least in the Davies family home in Llandinam.
I speak to Bee Davies who confirms that she and her husband have been spending a lot of time and how interesting it has been discovering many items that they hadn’t known about or not known of their relevance, which are now part of this exhibition.
Of course, the Davies money was mostly from Rhondda coal, but it is marvellous that their philanthropy has meant that we have these wonderful paintings, the best collection of impressionists outside of France, housed here in our capital city. It is my belief, and has been for a long while, that we need a National Gallery to show off the treasures that we hold in Wales. I think that this should be the project for a major public building for this decade, just as the WMC was for the last decade.
There are m there for the official opening of this exhibition. It is actually already open to the public and will remain open until January 2008, and it is certainly worth a visit, and I would urge people to spend many hours going around and studying all of the many interesting items that tell the background of the Davies sisters travels through Europe at the time of the First World War (they served with the Red Cross in France) and its aftermath.
I also managed to have a word with Dai Smith, the Chairman of the Arts Council, about the funding of the Wyeside in Builth in my area. This important cultural centre in Builth Wells is in need of funding.
Well done to Paul Loveluck, Michael Houlihan and the staff of the National Museum and Gallery for this terrific exhibition, and many thanks to Lord Davies and his family for their obvious generosity.
We are, indeed, very fortunate.
