REVIEWS

The Malta Independent feature - “The Things we fail to look at”, February 2020

 “Often shown with dramatic lighting that allows the artist to make the most of the semitransparent plant structures, Galea’s subjects pulse with life, celebrating the harmony of light and colour” – Agora Gallery, New York, 2017.   

“Galea presenta acquerlelli, dimostra grande manualita”, ribadisce come una tecnica semplice garantisca tuttora una percezione della figura in senso storico e accademico” - Fabio Bianchi, Cultura e Spettacoli - Liberta review on DAZZLE exhibition in Milan, 2019.

“Through the following ethereal qualities of the watercolour media Galea manages to express the beauty of nature … when interpreting the primordial forces of the sea. She takes on the task of the realm of flora with the panache of her brush dipped in delicate chromatic values boldly applied on to paper. The result is an ideal garden palpitating with a life all of its own … Soft spoken and unassuming yet determined and self-assured Anna Galea’s personality is mirrored in her paintings”

— Antonio Rodriguez Espinosa, Curator at the National Maritime Museum

“Anna Galea … with her accomplished watercolour technique, expressed in such delectable examples as Birgu and Bormla,… with her floral trademark confirms her standing as one of the best watercolourists around, with a reputation that is finding recognition beyond our shores”

- Emmanuel Fiorentino, Art Historian

“One should not be surprised to see Galea developing an abstract manner in the coming years that would be a natural consequence from such efforts and which will keep affirming her as an accomplished local watercolourist.

- Charlene Vella, The Sunday Times, July 2008

“Anna is an artist whom you cannot help not loving. The warm lyrical appeal, verging on the idyllic, of her water colours, has in it a touch of the magical that has a dream-like quality about it. Perhaps the first thing that strikes you when you first come into contact with her work is the spontaneity of her response to nature.

“What is so special about her is the fact that she has never lost her freshness. In this lie her magic and her perennial zest for the beautiful.

“It is all to her credit that that she has managed, and superbly so, to exploit the gifts with which nature endowed her. She has never looked back. Has never stagnated . She has been all the time developing. A look around you cannot but impress you by the breath of her vision. We do not know what the future holds in store. Of one thing I am convinced. She still has a lot to surprise with.

“I now consider her one of our leading artists and an undisputed master of the watercolour medium, over which she has complete control and can play about with to achieve that sparkle of magic that accounts for the irresistibly beautiful quality that hallmarks her work. Anna’s paintings are a joy to live with. Her flower and luscious leafs have for me a fragrant appeal. She knows how to interpret natural forms with a photographic eye that nonetheless manages to steer clear of the clinical and is always seeped in poetry.”

— Prof. Mario Buhagiar, Ph.D(Lond.), University of Malta, November 2010.

“…. there are some pleasant surprises in store as well. Anna Galea readily comes to mind. She presents a watercolour called ‘I am the Vine’ showing a number of vine leaves fluttering about as if sucked by a sudden gust of wind against a background of a light-encrusted triangle, symbolising the Holy Trinity. For its technical competence, coupled with the concept of the Trinitarian iconography, I consider this work as one of the most original pieces in the entire collection”“…. there are some pleasant surprises in store as well. Anna Galea readily comes to mind. She presents a watercolour called ‘I am the Vine’ showing a number of vine leaves fluttering about as if sucked by a sudden gust of wind against a background of a light-encrusted triangle, symbolising the Holy Trinity. For its technical competence, coupled with the concept of the Trinitarian iconography, I consider this work as one of the most original pieces in the entire collection”

— Emanuel Fiorentino, The Sunday Times, March 2007

“Anna Galea’s works cannot fall to strike one upon entry. These are watercolours at their boldest… This very exploitation of harmony and contrast along with her large scale gives her work its dramatic effect, no easy feat in watercolours. On the other hand, her landscape shows that she is also capable of great subtlety”

— Astrid Vella

“Anna’s flowers- majestic in their variety, vibrant colours and multitudes of petals – spark off a multitude of moods and impressions. Her water colours are appreciated not only for their unique beauty which is further enhanced by a sense of light, but also for being perfectly executed in meticulous detail, despite their sheer size”

— Marika Azzopardi