As the Courtauld Gallery has closed for refurbishment for a couple of years, someone had the brilliant idea of showing a selection of the classic Impressionist paintings for a few months at the National Gallery 
The original Courtauld catalogue above lists the entire collection, a selection of which are on show and it was revealing to be able to get up really close to some of the paintings more often seen in reproduction.
Edgar Degas‘ Young Spartans Exercising is one such – I’d always seen it from this kind of distance but look closer…
I’d never noticed the multiplicity of legs nor all the changes left visible 
Edouart Manet‘s famous A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is another which I had seen so much that I hadn’t looked very closely at the mark-making and handling of paint.
Pointillism – we all know what it is but how many of us have actually analysed it? Georges Seurat‘s Bridge at Courbevoie shows the dots applied over already painted shapes. 
It’s good to be reminded that looking happens in stages, teaching more over time.
