("Parting of the Red Sea," c. 1634, acquired with funds from the Felton Bequest in 1948 - I wonder who was selling in 1948 and why?) Poussin was one of the passions of Louis Marin, an old family friend in whose apartment I stayed in Paris; his book on Poussin and Caravaggio, To Destroy Painting, changed the way I see art. Caravaggio's realism is stunning, 
but how much is lost when art is no longer supposed to require the kind of rhetorical analysis texts are still thought to demand! Louis traveled all over to see the master's works. I wonder if he made it down here to see this one?There are lots of other wonders in this collection, including a Tiepolo from the Hermitage snatched from the hands of the National Gallery in London as the Soviets unloaded it to raise cash. And a charming 15th century anonymous Flemish triptych on one of whose outside doors appears the Rest on the Flight to Egypt at right - can you make out the angels helping Joseph pull a palm tree down so he can get the fruit? I've never seen a halo (arbor, bower?!) quite like it!
Two of their recent major acquisitions were quite striking, a Ribera, and, in the contemporary art section, Canadian Jeff Wall's large back-lit photograph "Untangling." Its rumored million-dollar pricetag raised some eyebrows, but the curator responsible for the purchase predicts that it will be seen as an epoch-making masterpiece. It is a peculiarly satisfying work. And since it's staged in every detail, maybe it "destroys photography," opening the way back to
the world of Poussin! It's not yet on the NGV website so I take the image from The Age. The actual colors are luminous.
