Prince Charles exhibits his watercolors in London

AFP

Of all the passions of Prince Charles, 73, heir to the British crown, watercolor is one of the oldest. Now he exhibits 79 of them in London, in the elegant surroundings of a renovated 19th-century chapel.

It is the most important exhibition of his work to date. For nearly 50 years, the prince has been painting outdoors in the places he loves, in Scotland and in royal residences. His travels are also a constant source of inspiration, from Switzerland to Tanzania.

He personally chose the 79 watercolors for the exhibition, organized by places and countries, which can be visited until February 14th.

The visitor travels from the snowy mountains of Scotland to Wales, from Montmirail in French Provence to Mount Athos in Greece and to Transylvania in Romania.

The brushes of the future king also immortalized Klosters and Saint Moritz in Switzerland, and the castle of Le Barroux in France.

The prince has a special fondness for a Scottish mountain, Beinn a’Bhuird, who he painted many times at different times of the year from different angles.

He chose watercolor because “the photography was unsatisfactory,” he explains in a text that is displayed alongside his work in the Garrison Chapel in London’s fashionable Belgravia district.

“It requires the most intense concentration and is therefore one of the most relaxing and therapeutic exercises I know,” he adds. “It takes me to another dimension, which refreshes parts of the soul that other activities don’t reach”, he says.

Despite the delicacy of some of his watercolors, he assures that there is “no illusion” about their quality. “But they represent my particular form of photo album and as such are very important to me.”

Over the years, he found time to paint 680 watercolors, sometimes signed by AG Carrick, a pseudonym created from the initials of two of his other names, Arthur and George, and his title of Earl of Carrick.

Prince Charles comes from a “lineage of artists”, explains Rosie Alderton, the exhibition’s curator, recalling the paintings of his father Prince Philip and the watercolors and drawings of Queen Victoria (1819-1901).