David Bowie is the star of this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces. Photo by Tal Safran/Flickr.
Once winter chills the city of Melbourne to the bone, an arts and cultural event re-energizes downtrodden residents. The Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series brings some of the world’s most acclaimed exhibitions to Australia, providing locals with many reasons to get out of their warm beds this winter.
The 2015 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces event will put on shows from such top international galleries as London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. From London to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image comes “David Bowie is,” a multimedia experience running from July 16 to November 1 that gives visitors an exclusive overview of one of the most influential and iconic artists of the modern age. That means an up-close glimpse of fantastic costumes, stage sets, props, memorabilia, photographs, rare videos, lyric sheets and filmed interviews with Bowie contemporaries.
The other main event of the 2015 season is “Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great.” As the name suggests, this Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibit, taking over the National Gallery of Victoria from July 31 to November 8, will include highlights from the personal collection of Russia’s most famous female ruler, 400 of them in all, taken straight from the opulent St. Petersburg museum that Catherine founded.
There will be paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian and Van Dyck along with regal homewares such as a 60-piece Sèvres dinner set. The National Gallery of Victoria will even feel a bit like the Hermitage with an interior design inspired by the real thing.
Bring it on, winter.
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- Contributed by Serena Renner
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