National Gallery Page #4

and perhaps eventually come to feel, love.

And she has finally slept with Samson.

He has fallen asleep. This can happen.

-

- And...

she knows that this consummation

of his desire

is going to lead directly to his death.

The Philistines are emerging

through the open door there,

flames shining, reflecting on their armour.

We've got this kind

of hermetic sealant of curtain,

purple, rich purple curtain, hanging,

the rich scarlet of her dress,

the gold of her cloak,

making this hot and rich.

Various light sources are adding to this,

plus the covert haircut.

The candle is being held

by this old woman,

and very carefully, the barber

is making his first incision.

We're not looking at a Delilah triumphant,

she's not going, "Yes! Gotcha!" is she?

She's looking ambiguous.

She is bending tenderly over him,

with, perhaps, a look of dismay.

I'm not going to tell you what you think

she's feeling, we'll all read it differently,

but her body is leaning away.

On the one hand,

literally on the left hand,

there's a tender gesture of hand on back.

But the other hand is away from him.

It really is on the one hand,

and on the other.

She has, over the time that

she has been trying to seduce Samson,

as any human being would, gone through

a series of mental transformations.

It must be very distressing, now,

to realize that the man

that she has just had these relations with

is now going to die,

directly as a consequence of her actions.

She has,

and I'm hesitating to use this word,

she has betrayed him.

But then she must think to herself,

"But, no.

"I was working for my country.

"To have done otherwise

would have been to betray my country."

It's about betrayal, it's about notions

of one's tribe or people,

and about what, perhaps,

might be happening in the mind

of anyone put into this kind of position.

But imagine, if you 'will, now, going

into the house of the brgermeister,

and seeing this above his fireplace.

And there you would be,

with, you know, the brgermeister,

with a rather large painting behind you

of Delilah with her breasts uncovered.

What would you say?

You have to view paintings,

or narrative paintings, as early films,

and as forms of entertainment.

So the artist to decide at what point

in the story are they going...

is he or she going to focus on?

So again, when you come to your work,

when you've had all your different ideas,

you have to sift through.

Which moment? What point?

What's the climax?

What, to you, is the most important thing

that you can communicate?

And how can you interpret

that form of encounters, experiences,

or chance meetings the best?

Paintings are very, very ambiguous.

You can look at them in one way,

you can interpret them in another.

And as your experiences change - and

I know, because I come in here every day -

paintings change,

and how you look at them changes as well.

Can we get straight on

to the proposed Sport Relief?

I don't see that the use of the portico

for various purposes

is much different from the idea of projecting

things onto the front of the gallery,

which we've always,

you know, resolutely objected to,

on the grounds that, you know,

it's a tremendous opportunity for us

if we're doing something for the gallery.

I mean, there are various ways

of looking at it.

But I think the right decision was that we

should not have people projecting things,

using our faade as a billboard, if you like.

When... because it diminishes the impact

of any occasion when we wish to do it.

But it also just looks

as if we're up for sale, you know?

I mean, frankly... I mean, I know there's

an alternative way of looking at it,

which is that everyone, you know...

it gains publicity for the... for the gallery,

but does it, actually...

get the right type of publicity'?

The right type of recognition?

I mean, this is the interesting question.

I'm inclined to say no, because,

obviously, a very worthy charity,

but is it more worthy

than a hundred other charities?

One of the things

that we need to balance it, again,

is the profile aspect of it,

is that it's an opportunity for us, potentially,

to take a little bit more involvement,

if you like,

in something that has the potential

to be broadcast to 18 million viewers.

And I think that's the balance, isn't it'?

You know, is... are we...

are we either happy not to align ourselves

with these chosen charities

or do we think,

"It's going to happen anyway.

"Should we perhaps try and take

a bit more ownership of it and..."

- What's going to happen anyway?

- Well, the event is.

We weren't consulted about

whether we wanted something

to obstruct the access

to the National Gallery.

We'd never have said,

'We want a marathon to end

"in front of the National Gallery."

Because a marathon, the end of a marathon

involves people on either side,

so you can't get into the National Gallery.

So someone else has made the decision

we're a great place

for the end of a marathon.

That's... And now, it's got so we're told

it's going to happen anyway.

Well, I want to be involved in the decision

as to whether the National Gallery

is the right place for ending a marathon.

And I'm not, instead, someone else

is making that decision,

'We're going to end a marathon

in front of the National Gallery."

Then we're being told, 'Well,

since it'll happen anyway,

"no one'll be able to get

into the gallery,

"can we have a marvelous

photo opportunity

"to show that in fact, the National Gallery

is all about Sports Relief?"

I mean... And also, you say, you know,

"chosen charities".

Who's going to choose them?

I mean, it's going to be a...

I do have a hell of a lot of requests

to use the gallery for charitable purposes.

I mean, one problem with this, of course,

is also that, you know,

the whole question of a charity...

which we are,

assist... you know, using its facilities

and everything for another charity,

which trustees are, you know,

very concerned about.

It's always a worry of ours that...

You know, when people have asked

if they can have charitable events

within the National Gallery,

- we've always...

- We don't do that.

But we appear in the backdrop,

with our banners, like it or not.

And that's just part of the London...

that's part of that landmark.

So this race, I imagine,

will end in Trafalgar Square,

and I...

You know, you can imagine the footage,

the filming of an individual,

running up towards Trafalgar Square,

to the north terrace.

We'll be in the backdrop.

I just feel that the National Gallery

is a whole...

- It closes the whole end of this square.

- Mm.

And all these events are going on,

all these things are being planned

- without us being properly involved.

- Consulted.

And that all we say is at the last minute,

you know,

"Well, it's gonna happen anyway,

so can we just use it?"

- Jill, you're...

- Yeah, and I think we should use this.

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