Just to say hi and I do pop on here sometimes. Hope all is well with my buddies. Linda
Just to say hi and I do pop on here sometimes. Hope all is well with my buddies. Linda
Member since:08.10.2003
Reviews:144
Members who trust:85
Today, as I walked up Pall Mall, I could have easily walked into the National Gallery through a small entrance in The Sainsbury wing, (a part of the gallery).
However, I wanted to walk further to see how the pigeons were surviving in TrafalgarSquare, I can assure you they are fine. So a message to the mayor up-----------up –--------- and away. I don’t think so, the pigeons stay.
Pigeon feeding is still allowed in front of the National Gallery, it is allowed although you may be told not to do it by the gallery staff. You are not allowed to feed the pigeons in the actual square but they are fed early in the morning each day.
Nelson stood proudly as usual and children played in the cascade of water from the central fountain. Looking down, from the paved area in front of the gallery, the scene reminded me of a playground and as it was an incredibly hot day with a beautiful blue sky, it was lovely to see people laughing and joking in the water while others sat and relaxed.
I do adore the entrance to the National Gallery; the stairs are so wide and to me, it is an impressive building.
Over the years I have visited this gallery several times and I have always enjoyed my visit. From memory I remembered where certain paintings are displayed therefore I did not need to study the free guide of the rooms.
I was with a friend and we had already spent most part of the day doing other things in London therefore we only had a couple of hours before the gallery closed at six.
I
asked my friend what she wanted to see and she replied Van Gogh, I as her guide said that’s an easy one up the stairs and then turn right. The East Wing –paintings from 1700-1900.
I will not give you a long list of paintings here but I will mention just a few.
The first painting to draw my attention was naturally, one of my favourites. The Sunflowers. I know that when some people first look at this painting they think of yellow and orange and yet when I studied this painting many years ago and tried to paint one of the flowers I realized just how much green is in this picture. To actually stand two feet away from a forty million dollar painting is a wonderful feeling.
There were other works by Van Gogh, many I had seen before but to my delight they had a new one on loan, and I had never actually seen it before, not even in a book. It is called ‘The Zouave’ and was his first portrait model. The colours used are complimentary which give the painting a rather bright appearance. This was painted in 1888.
In the same area there are many of Claude Monet’s work some I had seen before but had not really taken a lot of notice off. So for this artist I consolidated some of the information I already knew and then was able to think about other paintings by this artist.
Another favorite artist’s work was Edouard Manet’s and although I had studied a particular painting before it was lovely to be able to tell my friend the history and story behind the painting. All in all we had a lovely time in The East Wing.
We walked back to the main entrance and then over to the West Wing, in this part of the gallery the visitor will find paintings from 1500-1600 – Raphael and Michelangelo are here.
We decided to check out the toilets, we went downstairs, and it appears a rather narrow corridor after being in such huge rooms upstairs. I did notice that the décor of cream walls had not changed since the last time I visited, a few years ago; I also noticed that it was rather tatty and was in need of repair. However the toilets were clean and there was plenty of soap and hot water available.
We realized that the gallery would be closing in a short time we decided to visit the shop as we both like to browse through the art books and look at all the lovely gifts they have on display. We looked in the small shop in the West Wing but then decided to go to the main shop in the Sainsbury’s Wing. There are a huge amount of art books on sale, normally art books are very expensive but they had a rather good range of the Taschen books priced at £5 . These were solely on certain artists the ones I can remember are Matisse, Monet, Bosch, Picasso and Turner, although there were at least twenty other artists.
At present I am looking for art by a certain artist and the Gallery does not display his works. I did however find one book on this artist for the sum of £39, so I enjoyed a five minutes wander through the pages to keep my appetite wet! I also found out where to find the paintings in London.
There was a special selection of Russian books and toys, as at present there is a special collection of Russian work – Russian Landscape in the age of Tolstoy-this is the only part of the gallery where a fee is sometimes paid for entrance (Sometimes special exhibitions are free) – The main price is £7, Senior/concessions £6 and students £3 under 12’s go free. There are other offers which can be found on the website.
It is possible to buy many gifts and unusual items in the shop so if you know an art lover and do not know what to buy them for that special present. You do not even have to visit the gallery -WWW.nationalgallery.co.uk/shop You can even design your own calendar on line for £15 and choose the special pictures to show your loved one you care!
The gallery used the speaker system to tell people that the gallery would be closing and gave this as an early warning (You can even hear it in the toilets) so that people would have time to make last minute purchases or see that special painting and also there was not a big rush to leave the Gallery.
We did not go to the North Wing which contains paintings from 1600-1700 –This part of the gallery includes paintings by Rubens and Rembrandt.
The history of the gallery can be found on their website, it is interesting and I never knew That the House of Commons originally bought a picture collection belonging to a banker called John Julius Angerstein for £57,000. These were displayed in his house until a new buildings was arranged. The reason Trafalgar Square was selected was because it was a crossroads between the rich and the poor. The art collection was aimed at all members of society. It is interesting reading if you go on the website click on ‘About the gallery’ then click on the pictures.
The gallery offers a range of facilities for disabled with ground floor entrances and exits. Wheelchairs are available as well as lifts to all the floors. They offer sign tours for the hard of hearing and other equipment. For visually impaired people they even have enlarged print material. There is also a parent and infant room with changing facilities. There are so many facilities available; I would suggest that you telephone – 020 7747 2885 or look on the website if you are thinking of visiting and are concerned about anything regarding your visit, the staff are very helpful.
A few years ago I took a class of children to this gallery on an educational visit and it was a super day both for the teachers and the children. This can be discussed in detail before you go.
I have never thought that a day is long enough to visit this gallery. I believe a life time to see over 2,300 paintings which, as the gallery says belong to us may be just be enough time. There is no admission charge (A donation if you please!)
It is ideal to just pop in whenever you can, there is a late night on Wednesday’s when the gallery is open until 9 pm. Otherwise it is open daily from 10am-6pm.It is however closed on January 1st and the 24th -25th-and 26th December.
The only thing I would say that I was surprised about today was that my bag was not searched. In the past, my bag has been searched and that was probably after a bomb outrage. I still feel security needs to be tight, complacency is an easy word! We must not forget that London could be a target.
*********** A bright sunny day in London, we had some laughs as we were looking for a certain road earlier in the day and said perhaps we should ask a tourist, There were many, London was crowded as was the gallery, but we still found time to admire and discuss paintings and there was plenty of free seating in the gallery.
We had a lovely time and as we walked towards Leicester Square tube station we passed St. Martin’s in the Field Church and extended our day even further by wandering around the famous little market.
p.s. I had to tick interesting for students but it is interesting for any one whether they are artists or not. Young or old.
Teacherofhooch
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Advantages: Wonderfull collection, good facilities.Non patronising atmosphere Disadvantages: Can get crowded in Sumer, espceialy for popular exhibitions
Advantages: Wonderfull collection, good facilities.Non patronising atmosphere Disadvantages: Can get crowded in Sumer, espceialy for popular exhibitions
Advantages: Great Day Out in Central London, informative and interesting Disadvantages: If you go just to spot a famous face, you will miss out on a lot
Advantages: Great pictures, fascinating subjects, sheer scale of colection, Disadvantages: None really. Perhapse too much to take in in a single visit.
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (95%):
