National Gallery Page #4

What we're thinking about

is the general structure of the picture,

and we're thinking about it a bit like a flag.

So you're seeing an aerial view

of a street scene.

At the front of the picture is the...

is an upside-down V

going in towards the middle.

So it's a flag divided into four triangles.

The bottom, upside-down V triangle

is the street.

So it's basically a great whoosh of space,

leading towards the point

where all the triangles converge,

which is exactly halfway down the picture.

And then, the right-hand side is a V with

its apex meeting the disappearing point,

and then, the left-hand side

is a triangle on its left-hand side,

and then, the top is a real V,

and that, of course, represents the sky.

Take both your hands and put them

son of at the top of the picture,

and then come down a bit.

If you go from the top corners,

and then down a little bit,

and then you move your hands

inwards and downwards,

following the diagonals...

Can you feel the tops of the buildings?

I've only put the main sort of forms in.

And above that is an empty space,

which is a beautiful, deep, soft, smoky,

dark bluey-mauve

that dominates the painting.

So that's the sky.

Take that line of the tops of the buildings

and go to the... where the two lines meet.

Do you see that they meet

at a sort of bubble,

where the lines converge?

Yes? So that's

the sort of disappearing point.

And he punctuates that

with a tiny little dot of light.

So, overall, it's a really dark picture.

It's almost like a sort of semi-transparent

curtain's been drawn over the whole scene,

and it's very much nighttime.

And yet, it's punctuated all over the place

by these flares of light.

And they sort of emphasize the structure

and give a sense of excitement

of this son of city scene,

which is a great characteristic

of this picture.

So, not surprisingly, the furthest light

of a great line of streetlights,

the furthest light is at the point

where all these triangles converge.

It's almost like a sort of great symphony

to light in darkness, there.

And there are all these people,

out there on the street.

I've read people son of trying

to make something

of this being something

to do with his anarchism as well.

Certainly, in the paintings

where you can see more clearly,

the daylight pictures, he does make...

he does ensure that he defines the different

people and their different social class.

So you see people with top hats,

you see people who are selling things,

you know, you see all sorts.

In this picture, you don't get that,

because it's all so ill-defined.

But he is unlike many of his colleagues

in that he does show all strata of society.

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