Views

The faint reflection of the hall catches my eye; how nature and humanity blend — how there are so many ways to see the world; how painting lets us explore what we see and what we want the world to be, just like words. A figure — a few brush stokes and colours — stands out in the grove of light amid the shadowed grounds. To see the geometry of the inclining hill, the depth of the layers of trees at the end of which is the house and the sky.When I walked into the National Gallery of Scotland today, there were three paintings near the entrance that caught my eye: two paintings of Durham Castle, and one of Somer Hill at Tonbridge.When I first saw the painting of Somer Hill, by JMW Turner, I was transfixed. The painting looked both new and familiar at the same time. After studying the painting for a while, I realised I had seen it before: the artwork had been moved from another wall. Yet in this new place – in this new light – with all the time that had passed since I had last seen it, the…