The pandemic has changed the museum experience for the foreseeable future with many organisations moving collections online. There’s nothing thought like standing in front of the real thing.
Walking around a pre-selected route in the National Gallery brought me to paintings I’d either never seen or that I hadn’t previously had much chance to spend time with. There were more staff than visitors when I visited so I wasn’t too self-conscious gasping out loud at some of the paintings.
This tender portrait of Rubens‘ close friends is a new loan from the Courtauld Gallery
Another new loan from the same source is Rubens’ portrait copied from Raphael’s famous painting.
Van Dyck’s painting wonderfully captures the boy’s lively expression with the Earl wearing a version of Indian dress, no doubt from his recent travels to Persia and India.
I’m very much looking forward to the National Gallery’s upcoming exhibition of Artemesia Gentileschi due later in the year. This self portrait was painted towards the beginning of her career and showcases her skill.
Small pieces can easily be overlooked – this oil by Toulouse-Lautrec sympathetically depicts the friendship between two prostitutes.
Oh, I completely get why Matisse owned this painting, La Coiffure, by Degas. The colouring is sensational.
And lastly, you don’t often see Trafalgar Square so empty.
