Most of the internationally famous names (Courbet, Brueghel the Younger) hanging here have one or two lesser works on display. Nothing to get the heart fluttering. The collection’s strength lies in Alsatian artists who are highly regarded, but not household names. The Benner twins (Emmanuel and Jean) feature heavily, but it’s local hero Jean-Jacques Henner… Read More
Category: Museum
Timed tickets (bought earlier that morning) for the win. Jumping the queue, when the queue is standing in 40C temperatures, brought a certain joy. Once inside though, the crowds were clumpy as people moved from one famous work of art to another. Klimt’s The Kiss is the most famous work on display. Full confession: I’m… Read More
Where better to go on a scorching summer day than underground. Nowhere, that’s where. Better still if underground is a set of three cavernous structures that used to supply Brno with water, but have been drained and turned into an attraction. The tanks have only been opened in their entirety for a couple of years,… Read More
Having thought the temporary exhibition was the whole thing, “GASP” there’s more. A lot more. “WOWZER!” The punchy approach to this Belgian national obsession (too strong?) is mercifully light – one hopes deliberately so – on The Troubling Adventures of Colonial Tintin. The standout was an immersive exhibition on Seuls (Alone), a fantasy children’s comic… Read More
Post-industrial Roubaix seems an unlikely setting for an art-deco masterpiece. The former communal swimming baths – built when sunburst stained-glass windows were de rigueur – had been saved by the town once; so successfully it needed a major expansion, completed in 2018. It was crowded on our visit – but no less beguiling. There is… Read More
All a bit Emperor’s New Clothes for me. Experience marred by modern NY Yankees hats lying around, modern umbrellas, and warnings about CCTV cameras. Waste of what was probably a good idea. Could work better if you were really alone and not lining up with other visitors to experience the “bonding warmth of a generous… Read More
I’m on a two-day culturefest and I’m back at the British Museum for Hadrian – the next in the empire series. Can’t say it was as good as the Terracotta Warriors. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Hadrian was a pretty interesting guy but the exhibition is largely full of statues of the Hirsute one.… Read More
I’m at the British Museum. Last time I was here was for the Terracotta Warriors. Now it’s for “American Scene” in the invariably excellet print room. It’s a take on American prints roughly from the first half of the 20th century. The marketing throws out the two famous names: Hopper and Pollock. But there’s lots… Read More