Day Tripping

My sister Hannah & mum were down earlier in the week which was lovely as I dont get to see them enough & they havent seen our shoebox flat, which is pretty bad as we moved into it 9 months ago! Hannah's had an interview for a buying position which'll be great is she gets it but also a little odd as there's a very good chance she'll get to boss me around on a regular basis! We had a wander round Southbank & Tate Modern, Paul Klee's exhibition is currently showing but the queue was ENORMOUS so we decided to give it a miss. I've been to The Tate so many times but I still love having a look round the permanent collection. It happened years ago now but it still saddens me that they decided to remove Cy Twombly's incredible Four Seasons paintings. He's without doubt one of my favourite artists & the vast set was housed in a huge space within the gallery, they were really awe inspiring. I dont think I've ever set foot in the Gerhard Richter room though, that was a real treat. I took a few close ups of the expressive large scale canvases in there but again it really needs to be seen in person.

Mum by her favourite!

Another piece that caught my eye was by the Surrealist painter Max Ernst. He used the grattage technique, something I hadn't heard of before reading up about him.

We also visited the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House. Can't believe I've never been here before, what a gem! The gallery itself is beautiful, set in the grand rooms of the mansion complete with chandeliers & spiral staircase. Couldn't believe some of the paintings in there- Van Gogh, Moet, Manet, Renoir, Kandinsky & Matisse to name a few- incredible! There was also a fantastic collection of portraits & still lifes from artists I hadn't been aware of before visiting. I've added a few close ups from these paintings, they were just so colourful & expressive, a joy to look at!

Artists I'll be looking up are Mikhail Larionov, Matthew Smith, Gabriele Munter, Alexej Jawlensky & Kees Van Dongen- what a name! They were setting up the ice rink while we there, I'm ashamed to say I haven't yet sampled the ice skating delights London has to offer in the three Christmases I've been here...