A wonderful evening and a full house despite the tube strike on 4th October. Amit Chaudhuri started out by explaining why he will be talking about a painting that was not his favourite but which he was becoming fascinated with and in the process illuminated not only Renoir the painter, but also Renoir the film maker. Ruth Padel then took us through the extraordinary narrative of the Flight from Egypt and gave us a new poem inspired by the painting. Finally Ali Smith read a dazzling story of discovering Cezanne and offered us arrows to the heart from Rilke. A very special evening.
Next week, we will have the second evening in the series with Michael Morpurgo, Margaret Drabble and Andrew Motion. Already sold out. Then on the 14 October, the last of the 2010 Salons.
A Writer at Somerset House: Romesh Gunesekera's Blog 