I eerily followed in a fellow Express & Star reporter’s footsteps 120 years on to review the same feminist painter. Yet her work is now haunting my dreams in the same way.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery is running a recreation of the Evelyn De Morgan exhibition from 1908 but this time around it’s called Painted Dreams, based on the words written in that original newspaper review.
The writer was obviously mesmerised back then, describing faces in the art as “of our dreams” and “shapes that accompany us on a mystic journey”. Yet even now, I get what he means.
Strong-minded Evelyn was ground-breaking then, but while browsing the same brown walls and paintings, I’m staggered at how fresh and exciting her art still feels in the 21st Century.
Bewitching Pre-Raphaelite creations feature strong, fierce women, striking bold colours and on-trend images with moons, goddesses and magic. They could be on the cover of a best-selling fantasy novel or notepads sold at Oliver Bonas.
I also discovered that I’d have liked to have gone down the pub with Evelyn. She wasn’t just a feminist but a fascinating, talented woman with fans including Oscar Wilde. She loved a good séance, supported the Suffragettes and even dressed as a tube of paint to a fancy dress party when she met her husband William. What’s not to like?
There’s 30 paintings, preparatory drawings and sketches in the exhibition on loan from the Trustees of the De Morgan Foundation. They’ve stood the test of time to make this Painted Dreams: The Art of Evelyn De Morgan exhibition a must-see and an artist to become obsessed with, like I have.
Her art shows how Evelyn was way ahead of her time. She was among the first females to be admitted into the prestigious Slade Art Academy in London and she defied her Upper Middle Class family to follow her art dream.
Even as a teenager, she’d push cotton under her bedroom door to stop her disapproving father smelling her oil paints as she dabbled with vibrant colours.
You can see both her feminist attitude and wistful side in these paintings. One of the most beautiful is Luna, shimmering in pale blue with a beautiful lady sitting on a half moon. While she shows all aspects of women in paintings The Love Potion and The Storm Spirits.
There’s also recreations of three of Evelyn’s lost paintings by Walsall artist Paul Francis-Walker that were in the 1907 exhibition. He uses historical painting techniques and methods that can be seen as part of Painted Dreams.
It may be nearly 120 years on but this timeless artwork has made me feel a strong link to a journalist of the past. It’s staggering to think how Evelyn can make us both feel so moved by her creations a century apart but that shows the real power of art.
Painted Dreams: The Art of Evelyn De Morgan is at Wolverhampton Art Gallery until March 9, 2025. It is free entry. More information here
