Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
And we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, a podcast that aims to improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
That's a nice picture on your wall.
Are you setting up an art gallery?
No, not yet.
But shall we talk about art galleries?
Oh, it's a coincidence.
Let's talk about art galleries.
Yeah, dear listener, in Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about art in general, about museums and also about art galleries.
Rory, do you like art?
This reminds me a lot of the mirror questions, actually.
Art and mirrors are similar in so many ways.
You don't overly notice them most of the time, unless someone is holding them in their hands, but you would certainly notice if they were absent.
So I don't go out of my way to enjoy art, but it is nice having it around or floating around in front of me.
Have you ever visited an art gallery?
Once or twice.
I think the last time was in late 2019 at the Tretyakov Gallery.
I think they had the Apotheosis of War on display at the time, which was interesting, but I didn't go out of my way to go to these places, and I don't regularly.
So the art you're holding right now is all of the exposure I've had in the last few months.
Which do you prefer museums or art galleries?
Be honest, I'm not a huge fan of either, but if I had to choose, it would probably be museums.
At least there's some variety in the things to do and see there.
But in the case of an art gallery it's a lot of looking and talking which I don't find to be very productive or meaningful.
When was the last time you went to an art gallery?
Like I said, it was around November 2019.
And I only remember that because of the events around that period.
I think we were on the cusp of full global pandemic at that point.
What did you learn on that day?
I learned I don't really like art galleries, regardless of how famous they are, to be honest.
I wish I could be the sophisticated sort of person that can get into these things.
But to be honest, as I am now, I can think of better things to do with my time.
And now Rory with our premium episodes.
Yeah.
Oh, I get to talk about the premium episodes.
We have them.
Our free episodes are for part one, but that's not the only part of the IELTS exam for speaking.
There's also part two and part three and they're available on our premium podcast and you can access that in the links in the description.
The description could be below, it could be above, it could be to the side, but find the link and gently click on it and all will be well.
So art galleries.
In Speaking Part 1 IELTS.
People can ask you about museums.
Could ask you about art in general or specific questions about art galleries.
That's why we are talking about art galleries.
So, do you like art?
To begin with.
And then it goes like... Hmm...
You don't overly notice art, but you certainly notice when art is absent, right?
Yes.
Although the them I'm referring to here is like pictures, to be honest with you.
And Rory, you said that I don't go out of my way to enjoy art.
Yeah, I don't.
Like, I'm busy.
I have stuff to do.
And art, we mean kind of any forms of art.
For example, I have this nice photograph.
It's a photograph by Jan Arthus Bertrand.
You just made that name up.
That's not a real name.
No, no, seriously.
It is a name.
Yeah, it's Jan Artuz Bertran.
And it's a hut in New Caledonia in France.
So it's actually this.
So is this art?
Like if we kind of, it's a photograph, is this also art?
I think so.
I should point out, right, the answers here, if you like art, are not particularly helpful.
So it's worth mentioning different kinds of art that you could talk about.
For example, Maria's art is a good example of landscape art.
In the same way you could talk about portraits, you could talk about historical depictions seascapes starscapes, any kind of scape really, including eScape, the art gallery, because you're bored, which is what I would do.
So those are just a few things that you could say, to be honest.
Then we could talk about different styles of art.
For example... Modern art.
Modern, yes.
Classical art.
Modern, classical.
Cubist.
Impressionist.
I know what these... I know the words.
I don't know what they mean.
You could also talk about pointillism.
There we go, pointillism.
I know what that is.
That is when the use of small dots almost to simulate the different shades of light falling on different kinds of surface.
Yes, and also it's a good idea to talk about different art galleries, right?
And if you don't know the names of art galleries, you can just talk about famous art galleries.
So, for example, if we think about the most famous art galleries all over the world.
So, for example, the first one is The Louvre.
How do you say it in English?
I say the Louvre, but I always make sure I say that in the Louvre in Paris, so that people know exactly what it is, in case I mispronounce it.
Sorry, French listeners.
I'm not very good at that, you can.
Even if you've never been to the louvre, you just can imagine that.
Oh yeah, the last time i went to an art gallery, i visited the louvre and i saw the mona lisa in paris, in france, so just you can make it up.
Or, for example, the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam.
Van Gogh.
Van Gogh, right?
I don't think that's how you pronounce that either.
I think it's Van Gogh Museum.
I'm just going to apologize to all of our Western European subscribers right now.
Yeah, so people in Amsterdam, please educate Rory how to pronounce Van Gogh.
You first.
Who he was, you know.
And also the state hermitage in Russia.
Or is it state hermitage or the state hermitage?
Do we use an article with art galleries?
I think it's the because it's a specific place.
Yeah.
The Hermitage Museum.
It could also be an art gallery, so you can talk about that.
So, the Louvre, the Van Gogh Museum, the British Museum.
Okay, it's a museum, but also kind of what's the difference between an art gallery and a museum?
A museum is a place for displaying artifacts, whereas an art gallery is a place for displaying things that are specifically considered to be art.
I mean, there are things like ancient...
Artifacts, exhibits, ancient exhibits.
No, no, it's still the same idea.
Like an ancient, I don't know, ancient desks, for example.
That's not usually considered art.
That's something functional, that tells us something about the people that lived in that specific time.
And then, for example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, right, also.
If you have no idea about the names.
So just you can use some of these names and you can make it up, even if you've never been to an art gallery.
So just go ahead and yeah.
Just go ahead.
Just go ahead.
Just go ahead.
However, there are also.
Despite the fact I know nothing about art because I'm a complete philistine, there are still some useful things in here.
For example, don't go out of my way, which just means I don't make an effort to do something.
Yeah, and you used it twice.
I know because I just wasn't going out of my way to use different kinds of vocabulary to describe the subject.
So you kind of said like, I don't go out of my ways to enjoy art.
And also about an art gallery.
I don't go out of my way to go to these places.
So to go to art galleries.
Right.
So I don't go out of my way to go to these places.
So Rory is definitely not a culture vulture.
So he just, you know, he's a podcaster, a Scottish person.
I have other things to do with my time.
Write books.
Hate bananas and raisins.
So, I'm not a huge fan of museums.
I'm not a huge fan of art.
And we are very sorry if you do enjoy art, but Rory is just like he doesn't care about cars, about advertisements, about you know art.
But I'm doing a good job of showing how people can talk about things they're not interested in.
So it's not a total loss.
Yeah, and then again like to be honest.
I'm not a huge fan of museums or art galleries.
But if I had to choose, you see our second conditional.
So which do you prefer, museums or art galleries?
I'm not a huge fan of either, but if I had to choose... it would be museums.
And then we can have a lot of things on display in an art gallery.
So different paintings, drawings on display.
They are called exhibits.
Paintings, drawings, photographs, photos, sketches.
I wish I could be the sophisticated sort of person.
So still, I wish I could.
Like, that's a good structure as well for expressing regret.
Not necessarily connected to art galleries, but connected to regretting that you weren't when you got these questions in your exam.
Yeah.
So if you don't like something, you say oh, I wish I were more into art, or I wish I knew more about art, or I wish I could visit art galleries more often.
But you don't.
Right.
So I wish I could.
I wish I were.
We are talking about art. imaginary situations.
What do you call a person who actually enjoys art?
Can we call them a culture vulture?
Boring.
No, I don't know.
I wouldn't use that phrase.
I would just say someone that enjoys going to art galleries.
A connoisseur of fine art.
Yeah.
Unfortunately, I'm not a connoisseur of fine art or I am a real connoisseur of fine art.
So we have also an episode about art in general, an audio episode.
So you can listen to this for even more vocabulary.
And be ready to talk about museums, art in general, and art galleries.
Thank you so much for listening.
And we'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Rory, do you like art?
This reminds me a lot of the mirror questions, actually.
Art and mirrors are similar in so many ways.
You don't overly notice them most of the time, unless someone is holding them in their hands, but you would certainly notice if they were absent.
So I don't go out of my way to enjoy art, but it is nice having it around or floating around in front of me.
Have you ever visited an art gallery?
Once or twice.
I think the last time was in late 2019 at the Tretyakov Gallery.
I think they had the Apotheosis of War on display at the time, which was interesting, but I didn't go out of my way to go to these places, and I don't regularly.
So the art you're holding right now is all of the exposure I've had in the last few months.
Which do you prefer museums or art galleries?
Be honest, I'm not a huge fan of either, but if I had to choose, it would probably be museums.
At least there's some variety in the things to do and see there.
But in the case of an art gallery it's a lot of looking and talking which I don't find to be very productive or meaningful.
When was the last time you went to an art gallery?
Like I said, it was around November 2019.
And I only remember that because of the events around that period.
I think we were on the cusp of full global pandemic at that point.
What did you learn on that day?
I learned I don't really like art galleries, regardless of how famous they are, to be honest.
I wish I could be the sophisticated sort of person that can get into these things.
But to be honest, as I am now, I can think of better things to do with my time.
