Discover how critics have been reacting to the Royal Academy’s focus on the works of Victor Hugo.
The Guardian: ***** “By dedicating an exhibition to this versatile creator’s visual art, which started with a few caricatures and developed into sublime and surreal masterpieces, the Royal Academy does something unexpectedly moving. It takes you into the secret heart of a man we tend to think of only as a classic.”
The FT: “To Baudelaire, he explained: “I’ve ended up mixing in pencil, charcoal, sepia, coal dust, soot and all sorts of bizarre concoctions which manage to convey more or less what I have in view, and above all in mind.” To wander into that mind’s eye at the Royal Academy is a rare delight.”
The Standard: *** “It would be a mistake to think Hugo was a great artist – though ink was common to his pictures and prose, his prose was better – but he was an interesting one. Unnerving too.”
The Telegraph: **** “The Royal Academy’s exhibition, Astonishing Things, offers a wild ride through the Les Misérables author’s feverish, invigorating drawings.”
The Upcoming: ***** “One cannot help but marvel at the brilliance of a man whose convictions shone through every artistic medium he explored, and who remained, above all, a keen observer of life: birds, insects, flowers, faces, the gentle curl of water around a ship. This was a man who loved life deeply, and loved people. “It is through fraternity that liberty is saved,” he once said – a sentiment that feels more relevant today than ever. Go see this exhibition and immerse yourself in the inner world of a true artist.”
The Independent: **** “One of the 19th century’s greatest writers, Hugo also found time to produce art admired by founder of surrealism Andre Breton and Vincent van Gogh.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/astonishing-things