Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Central Hall (room 36) hangs Reynolds' dramatic portrait of the extraordinarily
effeminate Colonel Tarleton.
French art 1700-1860
The large room of British art (room 34) is bookended with two small rooms of French
art. In room 33, among works by the likes of Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau, there's
a portrait of Louis XV's mistress in the year of her death and a spirited self-portrait by
the equally well-turned-out
Elisabeth Louise
Vigée-Lebrun
, one of only three women
artists in the National Gallery.
In room 41, the most popular painting is
Paul Delaroche
is slick and pretentious
Execution of Lady Jane Grey
, in which the blindfolded, white-robed, 17-year-old queen
stoically awaits her fate. Look out, too, for
Gustave Courbet
's languorous
Young Ladies
on the Bank of the Seine
, innocent enough to the modern eye, scandalous when it was
first shown in 1857 due to the ladies' “state of undress”.
Impressionism and beyond
Among the gallery's busiest section are the four magnificent rooms (43-46) of
Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings, where rehangings are frequent. The
National boasts several key works by
Manet
, including his famous
Music in the Tuileries
Gardens
, and the unfinished
Execution of Maximilian
, one of three versions he painted.
There are also canvases from every period of
Monet
's long life: from early works like
The Thames below Westminster
and
Gare St Lazare
to the late, almost abstract paintings
executed in his beloved garden at Giverny.
Other major Impressionist works include
Renoir
's
Umbrellas
,
Seurat
's classic pointillist
canvas,
Bathers at Asnières
- one of the National's most reproduced paintings - and
Pissarro
's
Boulevard Montmartre at Night
. There are also several townscapes from
Pissarro's period of exile, when he lived in south London, during the Franco-Prussian
War. There's a comprehensive showing of
Cézanne
with works spanning the great
artist's long life.
The Painter's Father
, one of his earliest extant works, was originally
painted onto the walls of his father's house outside Aix.
he Bathers
, by contrast, is a
late work, whose angular geometry exercised an enormous influence on the Cubism
of Picasso and Braque.
Van Gogh's
famous, dazzling
Sunflowers
hangs here,
the beguiling
Van Gogh's Chair
,
dating from his stay in Arles with Gauguin, and
Wheatfield with Cypresses
, which
typifies the intense work he produced shortly before his suicide. Finally, look out
for
Picasso
's sentimental Blue Period
Child with a Dove
;
Rousseau
's imagined
junglescape,
Surprised!
; Klimt's
Hermine Gallia
, in which the sitter wears a dress
designed by the artist;
and a trio of superb
Degas
canvases:
Miss La-La at the Cirque
Fernando
, the languorous pastel drawing
After the Bath
and the luxuriant
La Coiffure
.
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place • Daily 10am-6pm, Thurs & Fri till 9pm • Free •
T
020 7306 0055,
W
npg.org.uk •
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Charing Cross
Around the east side of the National Gallery lurks the
National Portrait Gallery
founded in 1856 to house uplifting depictions of the good and the great. Though it
undoubtedly has some fine works among its collection of over ten thousand portraits,
many of the studies are of less interest than their subjects. Nevertheless, it's interesting
to trace who has been deemed worthy of admiration at any one time: aristocrats and
artists in previous centuries, warmongers and imperialists in the early decades of the
twentieth century, writers and poets in the 1930s and 1940s. The most popular part
of the museum by far is the contemporary section, where the whole thing degenerates
into a sort of thinking person's Madame Tussauds, with photos and portraits of today's
celebrities. However, the special exhibitions (for which there is often a charge) are well
worth seeing - the photography shows, in particular, are often excellent.
