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ART

Manet: Portraying Life Seen at Glasgow Film Theatre

IT is, in theory, a great idea: the opportunity to see some of the most iconic paintings the world has ever known, without the hassle of hustling for a ticket or travelling hundreds of miles to far-off cities. Instead of having to peer over the shoulders of chattering crowds, you get an unimpeded view of these masterpieces and an art expert unravelling their hidden secrets as your personal guide.

In t heory, yes. In practice, however…

Thursday’s “simultaneous broadcast” of the Manet: Portraying Life exhibition currently on show at the Royal Academy in London saw the expansion of a very lucrative performance-to-cinema series (which has included opera from The Met in New York, ballet from The Bolshoi in Moscow and plays from the National Theatre in London) to the world of visual art.

Art historian Tim Marlow was our host as we entered the empty rooms of the RA to listen to a few specialists and enthusiasts ( the exhibition’s co-curators, plus actor Fiona Shaw, author Iain Sinclair, artist Tom Phillips and others) explain the background to and genius of the most famous bits of the show.

And there, already, we have a couple of points of contention. One: this is the same Tim Marlow who, along with the likes of Andrew Graham- Dixon, is often seen presenting exactly the same kind of programme you can see on your telly for free. Two: if I’m paying 100% equivalent of the exhibition ticket price (£15) to sit in a cinema, I don’t expect to see only about 25% of the works on the walls.

I genuinely expected to wander, with the camera as my surrogate eye, through each of the rooms, lingering here and there but taking in the entire show – something