waterloo sunset

waterloo sunset

Okay, long story short, I ventured up to London on Wednesday at my tutor's request to see this:

Manet's "The Execution of Maximillian"

and this:

Manet's "Music at the Tuileries" (which sadly wasn't hanging)

at the National Gallery.


At the Courtauld Gallery, I went and saw a personal fave, "Un bar aux Folies-Bergeres", which was absolutely stunning (of course).

The Courtauld Gallery was marvelous, a little out of the way and not as well known - I don't think. There were barely any people there when I visited. I was able to fully examine the works without feeling shuttled about.

My tutor related his whole life story to me and what little I remember is that he was some industrialist who collected all these amazing Impressionist works. They're all displayed now within the Somerset House. The Gallery itself reminds me quite a bit of the Neue Gallery in New York, partly because it's so deeply attached to a certain patron (the Lauders with the Neue) and also because it's displayed in this old, very grandiose house that nonetheless gives it a more intimate atmosphere. The only discrepancy was the floor; the wood boards were unpolished and creaked a lot. I don't know if it was a style statement, but it definitely felt odd in contrast to what was on the walls.

I also went to the National Portrait Gallery, which is one of my favorites, if only because I love portraits. (That's a horrendously obvious sentence, by the way.) They were display the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008, which "showcases the work of the most talented emerging young photographers, photography students and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals."

One of the loveliest was Hendrik Kersten's "Bag":

Which was meant as a commentary on our usage of plastic bags and also evoke the old Dutch masters. I think it most closely resembles a combo of Vermeer's "The Milkmaid" and "The Girl with the Pearl Earring":



They also were displaying Madeleine Waller's portraits of poets, which were rather unexceptional. I was just excited to read the poems attached. She had a portrait of one of the poets that I happened to be reading, Lemn Sissay, along with his wonderful "Love Poem". So simple - frugal, even - but it makes my heart skip. Love.


Love Poem, by Lemn Sissay

You remind me
define me
incline me.

If you died
I'd.