Museum #2

Wednesday 7 October: The National Gallery

Now I won’t beat about the bush- if you’re travelling to London you need to visit this museum. Plus I mean, there’s so much going around (Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Portrait Gallery sadly closed for Covid…) that just this area is great- I will definitely be back. Plus, walking down Tottenham Court Road among the business peeps and the honking cabbies from my accommodation made me feel more ‘living in London’ rather than just ‘tourist’.

With Covid of course, you need to book an visiting time before you go, and with the popularity I had to do it a week before. Which, although I booked it during the first UCL Lacrosse practice, which would have been great to go- this museum was worth missing it. I booked an additional exhibition. At this time Artemisia and Titian were the temporary exhibits (going till Jan 2021 if you’re planning a trip) and I chose Titian- my main Renaissance classical myth squeeze. And although the exhibition was smaller than I was expecting, I was amazed by how long these pieces have existed and just the complete detail.

A little Europa and the Bull for you. I took so many photos, but my love for the classics is probably too much for the casual reader of this blog, so I won’t suffocate you with those… Maybe a few more from the permanent collection wouldn’t hurt, eh?

Now with the one-way system, I did go around a few rooms too many times to be able to get out, but the route I took (B) was only supposed to take 35 minutes. Honey that is a grossly under-exaggerated timeline. I think I was there for two hours. I think I did miss a few important works that were promoted in the gift shop, and a few Van Gogh’s were on loan to Australia and Japan, but still ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. The room below just finished a 21 month renovation and on the individual friezes has the names of all the artists in the museum.

sdfsdI did skip pretty quickly through a few rooms- think 18th century portraiture of old white men, which is good, because I was starting to slow down, but I reached the impressionist room and I won’t lie to you, a there was a tear or two when I reached my loves- Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Cassatt, and Van Gogh.

So between my walk down to the museum, tears falling, looking fabulous in my boots, and an overindulgence in art history- 10/10 recommend.