View Monet and Renoir painting side by side

Room 41 in the National Gallery in London currently has two very famous paintings hanging next to one another. They are the two paintings created of La Grenouillère by Claud Monet and Pierre Renoir.

Monet and Renoir - Painting Side by Side

The National Gallery has a link to this exhibit - which continues until 22 September 2026 and is free to all visitors before the Renoir painting moves to a new exhibition (see end for more details)
 

The panorama of boats, bathers and people at La Grenouillère
(Left) Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
(Right) La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

I've seen them hung like this before. However what is extremely helpful this time is the diagram which demonstrates how close they were to one another - but looking in different directions.

The two viewpoints of the small island on the River Seine
from the pier of the floating restaurant
Monet in orange and Renoir in grey

They are in effect stood a few feet apart and looking across each other's viewpoint.

Note how if you study the diagram and then look at the paintings next to one another, they are almost a panorama of the scene in front of both men. eg 

• Renoir includes the small island 
• while Monet crops just to the left of the island

The diagram is adapted from one contained in a book called Modernity and Modernism French Painting in the Nineteenth Century Yale University Press 1993 (available online for a low price)

Here are the two paintings in isolation. 

For those who can't get to the London, I've also included the descriptions of the two paintings in the exhibit.

Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Painted quickly on the spot, this picture has a cursory quality. Adopting an unusual viewpoint and a high horizon, Monet draws the viewer's eye to the river and the boats in the foreground. A wooden pontoon cuts across the middle of canvas, breaking the traditional rules of composition. Rapid dabs of colour suggest bathers and strollers. Avoiding a literal transcription of reality, in this seminal work Monet captures the essence - the impression of a landscape.

La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

         oil on canvas

on loan from the National Museum Stockholm

Renoir chooses a different viewpoint, to the right of Monet's. He includes the little round islet known as the *camembert' and, to the far right, a floating restaurant. Unlike Monet, Renoir focuses his attention on the fashionable crowd in the centre, populating his canvas with delightful details: a child plays with a boat, while a dog snoozes in the shadow. "La Grenouillère was a perpetual party, and what an assortment of people!" he later recalled.

Two exhibitions of note are coming up - which relate in a way to these two paintings.

Two NEW Exhibitions in London

Royal Society of Marine Artists | Annual Exhibition 2026

North, West and East Galleries at the Mall Galleries - 16 Sep 2026 - 26 Sep 2026 - 10am to 5pm 

The RSMA paint scenes associated with seas and tidal rivers. This particular scene would not have been possible as the Seine is only tidal to Rouen.

(note: the Royal Society of Marine Artists website is not secure i.e. http:// rather than https:// and I never link to insecure websites)

Renoir and Love

Explore the sun-dappled gardens and swirling dance halls of Paris through 40 paintings, brought together from collections across the world.

National Gallery, London

Dates: 3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027

Standard admission

• £20 (off-peak, Sunday-Thursday)
• £25 (Friday and Saturday, and all days in the first two weeks)
• Under 18s go free

National Gallery is selling its legendary red leather benches!!!

One of the joys when I visit the National Gallery is to walk around various of the galleries and then finally to sink into one of the amazing red leather benches.  Proper seats which allow you to rest as opposed to hard benches with no backs which give you aches in both your bottom and back.

Very sadly, this is a joy about to be lost as all the red leather benches have all been sent to an auction house to be sold tomorrow (14th October starting at 1pm - details below)!

One of the red leather benches from the National Gallery

Sir Gabriele Finaldi, the Director of the National Gallery has decided they have to go and all the red leather benches are consigned to auction at Bellmans Fine Art Auctioneers

• The benches will be sold as part of the furniture section of our Antiques & Interiors Auction on 14th October. (View Catalogue). Designed by Gordon Bower & Partners for the National Gallery in 1986 and made by Arthur Brett & Sons, Norwich, Englad c. 1988.
  

In May 2025, the Gallery marked the end of its Bicentenary year with the reopening of the refurbished Sainsbury Wing and a complete rehang of its collection. As part of these projects, the decision was made to replace some of the benches in the National Gallery - out with the old and in with the new. And here at Bellmans, having received the consignment directly from The National Gallery themselves, it is most definitely (and is typically the way with auctions) in with the old!

Included in our October Antiques & Interiors Auction on 13th-14th October are five large double-sided round ended gallery benches (lots 1200, 1240, 1260, 1280 and 1360) The National Gallery comes to Bellmans (09 October 2025) 

I gather there's been an outcry about this. Interestingly there are no press releases about the removal of the much loved red benches or any sort of coherent explanation of why they are being removed.

It made the Telegraph. According to that article it's about "fears they could attract pests". Which is very odd given the condition survey by the auctioneers indicates no pest damage and they've been used in the Gallery for the last 40 years when they were recreated from the original 1890s benches.

The headline and image in The Telegraph about the sale of the red benches

Methinks a Director who likes new architectural developments disliked the red leather benches as too associated with the past and not the present or the future.

The London Visitors blog "Ian Visits" investigated and found that 

In a response to the initial outcry about what initially looked like the sale of old Victorian benches, the National Gallery said that “The eleven benches which are being sold by Bellmans Auctioneers are replicas of the original Gallery benches, made in the 1980-90’s. These replicas are not fire safe and are difficult to clean, which causes risks to the Collection from pests – both key factors in our decision to replace them.

The question is whether they will replace them with identical benches which are fire safe and easier to clean.

Apparently the fire safety standards for furniture in public buildings (BS 7176) are higher than those required for private homes (BS 5852). 

• Museums are required to meet the "Low Hazard" requirements (and that's "low hazard" as in fires less likely to damage people than the higher grades of hazard) . Interestingly it appears it ONLY relates to what's called "Contract Furniture" of the type which might be moved between rooms of different types. 
• It strikes me that it is entirely possible that when they were remade - to replace the originals - in the 1980s that non-traditional and more flammable materials were used which now makes them a potential hazard. 

However I'd hazard a guess that if there was a fire inside the gallery, it would be the artwork which presented the greatest hazard and which would go up much faster than any of the sofas. 

Are they planning to replace the national art collection in order to render it safe?

One small bright light on the distant horizon - because you can be sure they're not being replaced like for like right now - is that the Gallery announced.

We have detailed photography and designs in the Archive, should we wish to have them remade in future.

However I find it very odd that the National Gallery should be 

• so keen to pursue fire regulations 
• while at the same time ignoring the Financial Regulations relating to direct debits and annual subscriptions. see BEWARE National Gallery Members!!!

Major Disability Concerns

Speaking personally, I find the way in which art galleries and museums in general ignore the needs of disable people to be completely reprehensible - of not illegal. 

How come they need to provide disabled toilets and not seating suitable for those (like me) with severe osteoarthritis who have difficulty getting up and down without an arm. 

As one other commentator put it (my bold)

For all the online stir around the new, minimal design choice versus the familiar favourites, it is a lack of accessibility in the new seating that concerns Kent, among others.

‘The old chairs were excellent for people with mobility issues or back pain because they had both arm and back rests, but the new ones are unusable. This is hostile furniture, it is designed to make you move on,’ she says. ‘Ironically, the rhetoric around museums today is all about accessibility, and yet the modern, international museum aesthetic of hard, uninviting spaces is so hostile to anyone with a disability or mobility issues.’ Wallpaper

Several people responded to the points raised by Kent to share personal experiences of accessing museum spaces with disabilities and mobility impairments.

BEWARE National Gallery Members!!!

The National Gallery is doing something I am sure is illegal. 

My guess is James Beardsworth-Shaw, Head of Loyalty at the National Gallery has not read the law and regulations around ecommerce and subscriptions. 

I am pretty sure that my Art Business Info for Artists page about e-commerce for artists covers cover the specific aspect that went "Kerpinnngggg" about distance selling and ecommerce in my head when I read my subscription reminder from the National Gallery just now.

Here is what is wrong

This is what I read - in the middle of the letter. Not up top where people skim read before deciding to read the rest.  

It was the £185 which got my attention first. 

• I don't pay that amount of money to an annual subscription organisation I visit regularly - for exhibitions only. 
• The RA lost my subscription when they started a hefty building programme and getting silly with subscriptions. 
• Looks like the National Gallery will now go the same way

That's right it says 

To ensure you continue to enjoy everything the Gallery has to offer, your Membership will AUTOMATICALLY RENEW to a House Membership Plus Guest on 1 November 2025 for an annual payment of £185, so you don't need to do anything.

The extra bold and capitals and change of colour is to draw attention to the fatal flaw in what I'm sure Mr Beardsworth-Shaw will come to regret.

He's adding in an additional service without requiring explicit agreement - and automatically chargeing people for this service. That's FRAUD!

To continue on the current basis I have to fill in an additional online form.

To renew to Exhibition Membership Plus Guest, please complete this short online form. Your new Exhibition Membership would start on 1 November 2025 and cost £123 annually.

So basically - do absolutely nothing, as most annual subscribers do every year - and you will get charged an extra £63 for something you have NOT said you wanted or explicitly consented to.

I KNEW this was wrong.

IT IS EXACTLY THE WRONG WAY AROUND.

You cannot change the terms of a contract - which is what a subscription is - without the EXPLICIT CONSENT of the customer.

To confirm this, as a short cut, I asked Google this question

Can you upgrade a subscription via online marketing without explicit consent of the person who is the subscriber?

Google AI answer follows - and said exactly what I expected!

No, you generally cannot upgrade a subscription via online marketing without explicit consent from the subscriber. Data protection laws, like the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), require clear, affirmative, and freely given consent before any direct marketing activities, including promoting upgrades. Simply sending an upgrade offer without active permission would violate these regulations, as consent cannot be implied, pre-ticked, or assumed from previous interaction

AND

Clear and Affirmative Action:
Consent must involve an active step from the individual, such as ticking an unchecked box, rather than passive acceptance or pre-ticked boxes 

Which means:

• I'm right
• Tomorrow I will be reporting the National Gallery to the relevant authority.
• I may just notify the news media re this - to access the membership at large

What they are doing is STRICTLY ILLEGAL. 

My recollection is such offences come  with a hefty fine and/or a prison sentence.

You must provide certain information if you’re selling goods or services through digital TV, by mail order or by phone or text message. This is called distance selling.

If you do not follow the rules you could be made to provide the goods or services as agreed, pay compensation or be given an unlimited fine or a prison sentence.

The National Gallery would do well to STOP ALL COLLECTION OF SUBSCRIPTIONS AS A MATTER OF URGENCY until such time as they have adjusted their system to only collect the ongoing exhibitions subscription.

I am not any sort of legal eagle but I'd recommend that the National Gallery read the 

• Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations
• the regulations relating to Sale of goods and services and data protection
• THE CONSUMER RIGHTS(PAYMENT SURCHARGES)REGULATIONS 2012

Sainsbury Wing reopens + Coronation Portraits on display

The unveiling of the two new Coronation Portraits

Two big events happened yesterday at the National Gallery in London.

• In the Central Hall the King and Queen unveiled the Coronation State Portraits, commissioned from the artists Peter Kuhfeld and Paul S. Benney. These portraits will remain on display at the National Galleryfor one month until 5 June, before they then move to the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.
• the King officially "reopened" the Sainsbury Wing after the major £85m project to transform it over the last two years to marh the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery.

The new entrance to the National Gallery

Two Coronation Portraits

Woke art in London is going broke

This isn't as much a blog post by me, as me alerting you to an interesting article in The Evening Standard on 30th January. It's a very interesting article which I think will resonate with a lot of people - and it's a RECOMMENDED READ from me.

How the capital's art world went broke on woke alerted me to a few things I didn't know before

The author JJ Charlesworth is an art critic, art magazine editor and writer with twenty-five years of experience in contemporary art, publishing and education. Since 2006 he has worked on the editorial staff of the London-based international art magazine ArtReview, where he is one of the editors. He says he has also lectured and taught extensively, tutoring at London’s Royal College of Art, the Royal Academy Schools and Central St Martins College

Below I summarise

• key points from what he has to say
• commentary from me - marked up as "ME"

So what does he have to say?

Here's some key points:

Major financial challenges 

• major art institutions in London face major financial challenges
• the Tate and the Royal Academy of Arts have announced serious deficits (£11million and £2 million respectively)

Changing agendas do not bring in punters

Over the past few years art galleries have been pursuing programming agendas that don’t always resonate with audiences.

• culture wars (decolonisation / identity politics / Just Stop Oil etc etc) are not attractive to many exhibition visitors
• whereas major art galleries can host sell-out exhibitions for major "old favourite" artists from the past (e.g. Monet at the Courtauld; Van Gogh at the National Gallery in 2024)

ME: I think he's got a very important point.

He quotes numbers of visitors for institutions compared to pre-pandemic levels and suggests which ones are struggling 

Van Gogh at the National Gallery - some practical pointers you'll wish you knew before you went

This is about the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers Exhibition at the National Gallery - from a different perspective.

I'm not going to review the exhibition per se - instead I'm highlighting 

• PRACTICAL ISSUES for those wanting to visit it.
• Plus a little bit about the exhibition - and other reviews
• AT THE END: For those who want to know more about Van Gogh and his drawings and paintings: a LONG list of previous blog posts I've written about Van Gogh on this blog over nearly two decades.

The Practical Issues

The View of the Sunflowers

FACT: Everybody wants to see this exhibition. 

1. Booking is a challenge
2. Queuing to get in is a challenge
3. Navigating the exhibition is a challenge!! Everybody has got a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"
4. Getting a cup of tea afterwards is not straightforward!

#1 TIP:  BOOKING - Don't assume you can visit when you want to

This is a VERY popular exhibition which means:

• you can't walk up and buy a ticket
• it's SOLD OUT on very many days and at very many times in the short term future. 
• they're keeping very strict control about how and when tickets are allocated.

The exhibition closes on 19 JANUARY 2025. 

At the moment, tickets are "available" for dates until 8 December 2024 for non-Members. (i.e. at the moment you cannot book for the Christmas Holidays - I'd recommend not visiting at this time in any case.)

EXCEPT the screens indicate they're very nearly booked up for non-Members

November 2024 - almost 100% booked up for all non-members

Tickets are continuing to book up very fast.  

• Mornings are booking up particularly fast (i.e. by the crowd who come to London for the day, see an exhibition, have lunch, do some shopping, go home)
• In general avoid the middle of the day and early afternoon
• If you are flexible, I'd check out the more 'unpopular times'
• In terms of time, allow at least an hour to view the exhibition. If you want to go round twice (which I'd recommend for all serious fans) you need longer
• However you also need to allow at least another hour to get in. (see queuing below)

In terms of times, if you get the option, I'd recommend 

• avoid the middle of the day.
• Note that Sunday does not get booked up as fast as other days.
• Morning is ideal for avoiding all those people who are lingering long from previous entry times

We went Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it. Not overly crowded, no queue and we could spend time looking at each painting. Plenty of seating if needed.

Liz Wyatt

This is the link to BOOKING TICKETS. 

There is a major bonus for all those, like me, who are Friends of the National Gallery.

• it doesn't cost me anything to get in (although the booking process is confusing and the ticket price does not get knocked off until the end when booking)
• I can go more than once. Last weekend I booked to go back on the 10 December early morning
• Tickets are reserved for members

I do NOT recommend booking for 

• children or 
• anybody who is not a dedicated enthuisiast 
• who is also prepared to put up with the booking issues, the queues and the challenges once you get in!

#2 TIP: You'll be in a queue for A VERY LONG TIME

You are NOT going to just walk in just before your entry time.

Taking pot shots at Van Gogh at the National Gallery

Earlier this year two young women each threw a can of tomato soup at Van Gogh's painting of sunflowers at the National Gallery

Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland

throwing two cans of tomato soup at

Van Gogh's Sunflowers in the National Gallery

The video below shows what they did. They apparently caused criminal damage exceeding £10k

They pleaded 'not guilty' when their case was tried at London's Southwark Crown Court.

During the hearing, the defendants said they “couldn’t have cared less” if the painting had been damaged.

On Friday, they both received significant prison sentences.

• Phoebe Plummer, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for causing an estimated £10,000 of damage to the frame of Sunflowers 1888. Wikipedia now describes as a British climate change activist and convicted criminal
• Anna Holland, 22, received 20 months for the same offence.

Prior to this, it seems very likely the two women charged had been told there was a good chance they'd go to prison for causing criminal damage. Hence they had others pleading their case and why they should not go to jail. 

Artists plead for activists who threw soup on a Van Gogh to be spared jail
More than 100 artists, curators and academics said Just Stop Oil action was in keeping with ethos of the arts

These are the Sentencing Guidelines for Criminal Damage

Note that if damage is valued at over £10,000, the case is tried at a Crown Court and a prison sentence is more than likely. Which is what happened. So those pleading on their behalf were effectively "performance art".

Of which there was more in the trial. Why do you plead” not guilty” when the whole thing is on video - unless you want to pursue further political protest eg the 20 minute statement in court by one of the protestors as to why it should be regarded as protest.

The Judge said

“You two simply had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers, and your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation.

“The pair of you came within the thickness of a pane of glass of irreparably damaging or even destroying this priceless treasure, and that must be reflected in the sentences I pass.”

and

“Section 63 of the sentencing code requires me, in assessing the seriousness of your offending, to consider not only the harm your offence caused, but also the harm it might foreseeably have caused. For the reasons I have explained, that foreseeable harm is incalculable. Your offending is so serious that only custodial sentences are appropriate.”

Other protestors from the same organisation had obviously anticipated a prison sentence was likely and had planned ahead.

Which is why a little time after the sentence was announced, three more protestors were involved in the same painting being the target of their protest yet again. This time, they threw tomato soup again at TWO paintings of sunflowers by Van Gogh.

More about the King's Paintings

I had a bit of an art binge and a dose of art history yesterday, on the way back to the District Line from the Philip Mould Gallery.

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna by Lord Frederic Leighton
222 x 521 cm

"Reassorted" at the Mall Galleries 

First, I called in at the Mall Galleries - to see William Feaver's curated selection of portraits from the recent Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. It's called Reassorted and it's quite remarkable what a new curation can do for a hang. 

I'll comment more on this tomorrow. However, I recommend people take a look if you are in town and wanting to see art.

The King's Paintings at the National Gallery

I then thought I'd go and capture some other pics of Royals at the National Gallery - and came across the longest queue I've ever seen trying to enter the Main Entrance to National Gallery via the steps. Puzzling over this I walked to the other entrance and asked the security guard who said "As soon as it pours with rain, everybody heads for the National Gallery!" and let me in.... :) 

I then went in search of King Charles I - which you can now see in this Facebook Post

The thing about the ongoing renovations to the National Gallery and the current closure of the Sainsbury Wing is that the art seems to keep moving around! Very little is where it used to be. Which requires regular visits to keep up with what can be seen and where it can be seen.

One of the things I noticed were some extremely large 'new' paintings - as in they're old - but I'm not used to seeing them at the National Gallery. It turned out that these belong to the King who has made them available to the National Gallery.

So here's what you can now see. (Some of you will be aware of these - and some will not. My practice is to go and pay quick visits to favourites and then periodically have a long slow walk around everywhere!)

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna

You can see the panoramic painting produced at the top of this post. Apparently Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna by Lord Frederick Leighton 

• measures more than two metres tall and more than five metres wide
• was painted by Leighton from 1853 to 1855 in Rome as his first major work.

Extract (extreme left) of Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna

in front of the 'Madonna', and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue with his pupil Giotto;

It's immensely complex in terms of the number of people and the story telling - and was a favourite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

This was Leighton's first major work, painted in Rome. It was shown at the Academy in 1855. It was an immediate success, and Queen Victoria bought it for 600 guineas on opening day. She recorded in her diary: 'There was a very big picture by a man called Leighton. It is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese, so bright and full of light. Albert was enchanted with it - so much so that he made me buy it.'

It's been on loan from the Royal Collection for many years, however it's previously been hung high in various positions at the top of entrances and staircases - but it's now at a "get up close and personal" distance in Room 45 - one of the main galleries near the front. 

I could have sworn I'd never seen it before!

The Triumphs of Caeser

The Triumphs of Ceaser were painted by Andrea Mantegna and six of them are currently displayed in Room 14

The National Gallery has been displaying six of Andrea Mantegna’s monumental paintings 'The Triumphs of Caesar', loaned from the Royal Collection by His Majesty The King, since last September - but this is the first time I'd come across them.

Jonathan Jones gave the new display at the National Gallery a five star review! See 
Mantegna: The Triumphs of Caesar – you can hear the trumpets and smell the elephant dung

Why throw tomato soup at a Van Gogh painting?

Last Friday, two "activists" for Just Stop Oil threw a tin of tomato soup over the very famous painting of Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh which was hanging in the National Gallery.

Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland of Just Stop Oil at the National Gallery

© 2022 Just Stop Oil

Just Stop Oil supporters throw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers to demand no new oil and gas.

Two supporters of Just Stop Oil have thrown soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, as actions in the capital roll into the 14th day. They are demanding that the UK government halts all new oil and gas projects. [1]

The two women walked into the room in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, in which the ‘Sunflowers’ is hung and at 11am threw the contents of two tins of Heinz Tomato soup over the painting which has an estimated value of $84.2 million. [2] Just Stop Oil Press Release

What's different about the new forms of extreme activism?

Discombobulated by the National Gallery

I visited the National Gallery in London yesterday to view the Winslow Homer - Force of Nature Exhibition - and I'll be doing a review of this later - probably as a series of smaller posts as there's a lot to comment on and it's open until 8 January 2023.

Afterwards, I walked around the rest of the Gallery - and felt completely and utterly discombobulated! I think it's probably my first visit for over a year and quite possibly longer due to the combination of the pandemic, then avoiding big interior spaces with lots of people pre-surgery, then the getting ready for surgery and the recovery period. Consequently I've no idea how long it's been like this. I think it's probably relatively recent as I came across this article from the Art Newspaper.

Moving Michelangelo and hauling Holbein: renovation headache for London's National Gallery. A bicentenary renovation project makes the London museum play a tricky game of musical chairs with its collection

Anyway - a lot has changed! 

Very oddly, very little of what has changed is explained well on the website - so if you like me haven't visited for a while you might well feel equally discombobulated!

I got more information about what's happening from The Art Newspaper article than the website - which is odd to say the least when you can't project manage updating the website at the same time as making huge changes to the content on display and its layout!

Below is what I found in the Gallery........

The Gallery with the Constables and the Turners and the lovely leather sofas
- one of the few parts of the National Gallery which is relatively unchanged

• huge sections which are simply not accessible due to restructuring / renovations / getting ready for NG200 in 2024 (which I'd not heard of before). That's as in:

• Virtually ALL of the Sainsbury Wing is out of action (Rooms 52-59 and 62-66 + the Basement Gallery
• plus Rooms 1-8 in the Wilkins Building - which is where exhibitions which would have been in the Sainsbury Wing are now being held - as in the new Lucian Freud exhibition
• plus a lot more rooms on the second floor of the main building - which makes walking around in a circle really difficult - you have to backtrack a lot.
• I looked at the floor plans afterwards - which have no clear / prominent legend/key and are consequently are nearly incomprehensible
• you can download the floor plan as at September 2022 which does not explain that grey means inaccessible and makes no distinction between gallery spaces which are closed and spaces given over to other functions of the Gallery which have never been accessible.
• bottom line - it's very difficult to get your head around even if you're used to the layout of the gallery!

In the next few months, the picture galleries in the Sainsbury Wing will close to prepare for building works as part of NG200. Find out more about individual room closures on the Level 2 floorplan page.

Later this month London’s National Gallery is due to announce plans for its 2024 bicentenary celebrations and an associated building project. But although the much-needed upgrading of its Sainsbury Wing entrance will be welcomed, it poses logistical challenges for the gallery—and it will have a considerable temporary impact on where paintings are displayed. The Art Newspaper (13 June 2022)

• the explanations within the Gallery of how to move around/through are either absent or confusing. They might make sense to museum staff but I know the Gallery well and I was struggling. I was simply lost muc of the time as to which part of the building I was in - as I've always navigated by art on the walls previously!
• large parts of the collection have been rehung in different galleries
• partly to accommodate the need to get the early art out of the Sainsbury Wing
• partly to accommodate the exhibitions which would usually be in the gallery at the bottom of the Sainsbury Wing have had to come into the main Wilkins Building.
• Dutch Floral Still Lifes - which I visit every time I got to the Gallery - are absolutely nowhere to be seen.
• relatively few paintings seem to be in the same place 
• the 'story of art' in some galleries is really, really weird! It almost looks like "what can fit where" exercise at times.
• smaller spaces = much more crowded I'd advise going during hours when the huge number of tours are not 'working'

It was a real relief when I got to galleries which looked almost the same as they always do. The Canaletto's and Guardis are in the same place as are the Constables and Turners.

On the plus side I saw more artwork that was new to me than ever seen on previous visits! Some of which is very, very good.

Plus some hanging juxtapositions which improved the viewing - such as the Vermeer Virginals below

A Young Woman standing at a Virginal (c.1670)
A Young Woman seated at a Virginal (c.1670)
by Johannes Vermeer

What upset me is that this current change is obviously going to last at least until the end of 2024 i.e. at least two more years - and may well change again during that time.

So where's the art - and is it on view?

Surgery postponed - my list of exhibitions in London to visit

I made it all the way to the ward, unpacked and knew when the operation was likely to take place when it was CANCELLED (long story not for this blog!). It's hopefully in the process of being rescheduled for mid January.

So coming home again I started making a mental list of exhibitions to try and go and see.... 

and these are they....

ART EXHIBITIONS to see in London

Courtauld Museum

https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/

....has reopened after its major transformation project and I'd like to try and get to see old favourites again.

 

Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything

https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/hokusai-great-picture-book-everything

Venue: Room 90, British Museum

Dates: until 30th January 2022

Ticket prices - cheaper to go in the week rather than the weekend

In a global first, this exhibition will display 103 recently acquired drawings by Hokusai, produced in the 1820s–1840s for an illustrated encyclopedia called The Great Picture Book of Everything. For reasons unknown, the book was never published, presenting the opportunity to see these exceptional works which would otherwise have been destroyed as part of the woodblock printing process.

Depicting scenes from Buddhist India, ancient China and the natural world, the brush drawings not only showcase Hokusai's inimitable style and skill, but also reveal a version of 19th-century Japan much more intrigued by the wider world than previously thought.

Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/durers-journeys-travels-of-a-renaissance-artist

Venue: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery

Dates: Until 27 February 2022

Ticket prices: Standard admission £20 Monday – Sunday plus concessions

This is the exhibition which should have been held in 6 March 2021 – 13 June 2021 - but got caught by the lockdown.

I was really miffed I was going to miss this one so pleased I can now get to see it as I'[m a big admirer of Durer.

The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, this exhibition follows Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, and the people and places he visited.

Charting his journeys to the Alps, Italy, Venice and the Netherlands, the exhibition will explore how Dürer’s travels sparked an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fuelled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe.

Hogarth and Europe

Venue: Tate Britain
Dates: Until 20th March 2022

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth-and-europe

One that had completely passed me by - but I am partial to Hogarth. I often wonder why more artists today - with the exception of Grayson Perry - don't follow in his footsteps in terms of recording daily life.

Funny video provides a new take on the story!

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021

'The Hay Wain' by John Constable - with Andrew Marr

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Andrew Marr on "The Hay Wain" by John Constable last Friday night. This is the second episode of the second seasons of Great Paintings of the World Programme on Channel 5.

I was particularly struck at the end by the thought that this is precisely the sort of programme BBC4 should be making - rather than the BBC relegating BBC4 to becoming an archive channel!! 

It appears to me that we now need to look for quality programming about art on channels other than those 'allowed' us by the BBC.

Anyway, back to the programme......

Episode 2: The Hay Wain by John Constable

 

John Constable (1776 - 1837) believed in the importance of working from life and was dedicated to the way he wanted to paint and basing his paintings on his drawings of the landscape, skies and 'weather'.

I thought I knew quite a bit about John Constable, having seen a number of exhibitions of his work and written about him. However, I was surprised by some content included in Andrew Marr's excellent, well researched and cogent story of his life, family and development as an artist.

He came up with a number of things I either didn't know or hadn't appreciated properly before. Such as

• The site and size of his father's home in East Bergholt (the link is to Constable's painting of it - not featured in the programme)
  
• his experience of being shown at the RA Summer Exhibition - and the decision to "go bigger" to get more wall space and a better position (a sentiment not lost on many of those entering competitive exhibitions today!)
  
• His work experience prior to becoming a painter which led to him being a pre-eminent painter of weather and clouds
• the fact that he was a great success at the Paris Salon and sold many more paintings in France before he became a popular artist in the UK.
  
• His preparation for painting The Hay Wain - including the full scale study for the painting
  
• the historical socio-economic context for the 'The Hay Wain' in terms of the movement of people - from living in the country to the cities

Do watch the programme on catch up if you can. You won't regret it if you enjoy landscape painting! 

I also commend to you the National Gallery page about The Hay Wain - which allows you to see the painting full screen and also zoom in different parts of it.

The Hay Wain (1821) by John Constable (1776 - 1837)
oil on canvas, 130.2 x 185.4cm

 

Plus for those unable to view Channel 5, here's a video by the National Gallery about The Hay Wain.

 

More about John Constable

These are my blog posts 

• 'Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape' at the RA (2013) 
• Constable Portraits: The Painter and his Circle (2009) 
• BritArt in History - RA exhibits admirable collections of British drawings (2007)

Plus these blog posts from my Travels with a Sketchbook blog 

• Hampstead - Flask Walk, Burgh House and John Constable (2009) 
• Sketching Constable in the V&A (2011)

My sketch of Constable's "Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill"
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

 

Plus some links to works by John Constable 

Some excellent summaries can be found on

• Wikipedia - John Constable
• The Artchive - John Constable 
• The impressive exhibition of his landscapes at Tate Britain focused on the relationship between his sketching and the production of six foot canvases.
  

I highly recommend the collection of his work at the V&A

• these are links to work by John Constable in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum - and the articles about them 
• plus do take a look at the very many artworks by John Constable in the V&A Collection
  

Art Exhibitions in London opening in May 2021

This post summarises the art exhibitions at the large art galleries and museums in London which will reopen on or after 17th May 2021 - which is the date indoor entertainment venues can reopen after lockdown.

The galleries and museums covered below are:

• Royal Academy of Arts
• National Gallery
• Tate Britain
• Tate Modern
• Wallace Collection
• Hayward Gallery
• Dulwich Gallery
• Whitechapel Gallery

Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life, 2011 

 © YAYOI KUSAMA

accessioned by the Tate 2019

LINKS TO EXHIBITION WEBPAGES are embedded in the title of the exhibition

Private / commercial art galleries reopened - as part of the reopening of non-essential retail - on 12th April

It would be wrong to suggest things are back to "normal".  Normal may still be some way off. 

• All visits will need to be booked 
• There are additional precautions to maintain social distancing / health and safety.
• You can visit in a group of up to 6 people (remember when you used to be able to talk to friends at an exhibition!)

The government in its roadmap out of lockdown commented as follows

The arts, entertainment and recreation sector (excluding sports, amusement and recreation) has been hit very hard by the pandemic. Pre-COVID-19, this sector was worth £18.3 billion GVA UK wide (£15.5 billion in England) and had 473,000 jobs (400,000 in England). GVA output in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector as a whole compared to February fell by 46% in April, and subsequently to 33% in November; in no month since March has output been above 77% of pre-pandemic levels.[footnote 70] The sector as a whole has also had a high take-up of the furlough scheme, with 455,000 furloughed at peak in spring, and 293,000 furloughed at the end of November. Between 25 January and 7 February, 44% of businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector have paused trading.[footnote 71] Reopening these sectors can allow these businesses to recover revenues and bring back employees.

In other words - get out there and visit some art exhibitions!

Royal Academy

We intend to reopen 18 May when lockdown restrictions have lifted.

If planning to visit more than one exhibition I recommend you read the visiting constraints carefully first - and book your most preferred exhibition first.

We are continuing to prioritise exhibition access for Friends and supporters. However, capacity in our galleries is greatly reduced and sadly we can’t guarantee access if time slots are fully booked.

David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

THERE ARE LESS TICKETS AND LOTS HAVE SOLD!

All works by David Hockney. © David Hockney
Clockwise from top left: 
No. 125, 19th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 340, 21st May 2020. iPad painting. No.186, 11th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 118, 16th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 316, 30th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 88, 3rd March 2020. iPad painting. No. 370, 2nd May 2020. iPad painting. No. 259, 24th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 133, 23rd March 2020. iPad painting.

Dates: 

• 23 May — 1 August (Main Galleries) SOLD OUT(?) from what I can make out - I couldn't find a ticket
• 11 August - 26 September 2021 (Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries) - most of August sold out; I'd act quick if you want a ticket
• same artwork in both galleries 
• Book now 

This is an exhibition of 116 new artworks - all created by Hockney on his digital tablet. 

Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul

Dates: 18 May – 1 August

This is the exhibition which should have opened last November - but was nobbled Tier 4 restrictions and then by lockdown.  

• Emin has been a major figure in contemporary art for over 25 years
• Munch pioneered a radical new style known as Expressionism. 
• Emin selects masterpieces by Edvard Munch to show alongside her most recent paintings.

Having viewed the image sheet for the exhibition it's amazing how much similarity there is between the two artists.

Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict

Dates: 22 May – 19 September
Michael Armitage draws from Titian, Goya, Manet and Gauguin to explore East African culture and folklore.  The visit seems to be limited to a time slot of 50 minutes. 

National Gallery

The National Gallery website gives me the distinct impression of a gallery which has decided to cut its losses and definitely is NOT taking any chances with booking art for the first half of 2021 and paying for transport for an exhibition which might be cancelled if another lockdown happens....

Just ONE exhibition opening in May - and it's NOT "a name"

Conversations with God - Jan Matejko’s Copernicus

Dates: 21 May – 22 August 2021 (Room 46)

a rare opportunity to see one of Poland’s most loved works of art.

You have to wait until much later for leading artists.

AUTUMN 2021: 

• Poussin and the Dance - joint exhibition with the Getty (9 October 2021 – 2 January 2022 in the Ground Floor Galleries)
• The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist (20 November 2021 – 27 February 2022 - in the Sainsbury Wing)

The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

SPRING 2022: 

• The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael - does not arrive until May 2022! (North Galleries)

Tate Britain

Tate’s four galleries hope to reopen on 17 May. Plan Your Visit or go to our FAQ page for additional information.

Most of the exhibitions are reopening i.e. ones which closed due to Tier 4 and then the lockdown

• Timed tickets must be booked before visiting
• All visitors including Members need to book a ticket
• This ticket includes access to the British art collection routes

The exhibitions include:

• Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night - Until 31 May 2021 (so basically two weeks) - The first black British woman to have a retrospective at the Tate Britain
• Turner's Modern World Until 12 Sep 2021 - How J.M.W. Turner broke convention to paint his changing times. Originally opened 28 October 2020 just in time for Tier 4!

Ongoing exhibitions - which are open all the time and are FREE (but you still have to book a ticket) include:

• Rothko and Turner - The much-loved Rothko room returns to Tate Britain 
• British Art 1540–1930 - Explore over 300 years of British art on this route through Tate Britain 
• British Art 1930–now - Discover movements that have defined a century of British art

Tate Modern

The reopening of Tate Modern

Exhibitions reopening

• Zanele Muholi Until 31 May 2021

NEW Upcoming Exhibitions

• Beuys’ Acorns  Until 14 Nov 2021 (FREE) - should have been open from the beginning of May (hence listed first) IF Tate Modern had been open!

• Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms (18 May – 21 November 2021) - 2020 was supposed to be a big long Yayoi Kusama exhibition for TM's 20th anniversary - but it was not to be. Instead it's now in 2021 - for its 21st - and we now have:

• Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life - one of Kusama’s largest installations to date and was made for her 2012 retrospective at Tate Modern. 
• Chandelier of Grief, a room which creates the illusion of a boundless universe of rotating crystal chandeliers.

Tate presents a rare chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. These immersive installations will transport you into Kusama’s unique vision of endless reflections

• The EY Exhibition: The Making of Rodin (18 May – 21 Nov 2021) This major exhibition is the first to focus on the importance of plaster in his work.

Wallace Collection

Rubens: Reuniting the Great Landscapes

Dates: opens on 21 April 2021. (No closing date given)

For the first time in over two hundred years, Peter Paul Rubens’s (1577-1640) two great masterpieces of landscape painting, The Rainbow Landscape (The Wallace Collection) and A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (The National Gallery) will be reunited as part of an exhibition at the Wallace Collection.

 

Hayward Gallery

Matthew Barney: Redoubt

Dates: 19 May – 25 July

It features:

• a series of imposing and intricate sculptures cast from fallen trees 
• over 40 engravings and electroplated copper plates. 

The Hayward Gallery presents the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the UK in over a decade, featuring the UK premiere of a ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ new feature-length film.

 

Dulwich Gallery

Unearthed: Photography's Roots

Dates: Re-opening 19 May subject to COVID-19 restrictions, until 30 August 2021

the pioneering story of photography from the 1840s to today, told through stunning still lifes of plants and botany.

 

Whitechapel Gallery

Phantoms of Surrealism

Dates: 19 May – 12 December 2021

This archive exhibition will examine the pivotal role of women as both artists and as behind-the-scenes organisers within the Surrealist movement in Britain in the 1930s.

Plus

• Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy (19 May - 29 Aug 2021)
• Desde el Salón (From the Living Room) Sol Calero selects from the Hiscox Collection (19 May - 15 Aug 2021)

and finally......

An unauthorised exhibition of the largest private collection of artworks by Banksy 

will be on show at 50 Earlham Street. It opens 20th May for a limited period - who knows for how long?