“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.” Claude Monet
Residents from St Hedwig Village Residential Aged Care in Blacktown had only one excursion in mind for their MyWish. They decided to visit the Monet & Friends Exhibition on show at the Royal Hall of Industries in Moore Park, and afterwards enjoy lunch at Fratelli Fresh in the Entertainment Quarter.
My Wish is a Catholic Healthcare program which is granting residents, who are living in one of our Aged Care Homes, their special wish. It’s about promoting life to its full at any age, rewarding our residents and giving them the opportunity to enjoy an extraordinary experience.
The Life, Light & Colour exhibit showcases the artworks of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne and many more with key impressionist movement themes including ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘En Plein Air’. The showcase brings these innovative paintings to life by projecting them in vivid detail as high-definition multi-screen graphics.
The artwork is accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack featuring French composers such as Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel as well as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. The exhibit fluidly captures the focus on sensation, emotion and candidness that were central to the Impressionist movement.
Herbert, a resident of St Hedwig who in his younger days was a very active member of the NSW Art Gallery, found “the staging and video projection fascinating; I’ve loved seeing the range of Impressionist artists represented”.
Ivy also enjoyed the beautiful music and paintings, while Maureen was “very impressed with the wall projections”, particularly liking Edgar Degas’ Blue Dancers and The Dance Class.
As the exhibit moved through different themes, from winter landscapes to lavish gardens, to sea and cityscapes, quotes from the artists about how they viewed and valued art accompanied the paintings.
Herbert loved the quote “Art is about emotions; if art needs to be explained it is not art” from Pierre-August Renoir, and he will use it to perfectly explain art he and fellow friends and residents from St Hedwig will be creating in their upcoming art classes.
The art classes at St Hedwig, as well as the Monet exhibit, provide great joy and comfort to Erika, who described how “My late husband took up painting when he became ill. It made me so happy that he found joy in painting after working so hard all of his life. I loved watching his talent emerge. His style looked a lot like the Impressionist’s style”.
After experiencing the Monet exhibit, Herbert, Erika, Maureen and friends walked to the nearby Fratelli Fresh restaurant where they enjoyed a beautiful lunch of fresh oysters, linguine prawns and spinach and ricotta tortellini, accompanied by a lovely glass of Italian white wine.
Pictured are residents and carers from St Hedwig Village.
Story by Lauren Toma.