Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery discussing the redisplay of the Sainsbury Wing following its recent refurbishment. Laura Llewellyn and Emma Capron did a wonderful double act taking us through the reasoning around the redesign and rehang. They started by looking at why the pre-1500 collection at the gallery is so strong but the problems of the old display including the traffic jams getting to the Arnolfini Wedding in the end room. They then looked at why they start the display with the Northern European work and the challenges in showing these largely small works and why the early Italian gold ground works are now in the far corner, opening the Italian chronology. Next we moved onto how they hung the ‘nave’ of the gallery to represent how the art would have been displayed in churches when it was new. Having visited several times I think this section is particularly successful. They looked at the two themed rooms they had created on nature and gold and discus...

Fabulous reopening of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery after a two year closure. I think this has long been my favourite bit of the gallery and it’s felt horrible having it closed for so long. It’s also made the rest of the gallery feel cramped. However it’s been well worth the wait. The foyer has been opened up with sections taken out of the floor above to create curved, double storey views and to let it light. More light is also coming from having taken the darkened glass out of the huge windows which run up the stairs. In the foyer is an upmarket coffee bar, which was coping well on members’ day when I went but it might struggle when the crowds arrive as it’s the first coffee stop they’ll see. However the £4.80 price of a coffee might put them off. On the first floor is a posh new restaurant and the book shop which I was worried had disappeared. It’s almost purely about books and has a great selection of old and new titles. I then popped up the picture galleries...