60-minute taster tour of the Collection - National Gallery, 29 July 2009

08/08/2009 by bakary.

Okay… not technically an exhibition… but it’s art so who cares!

When you can go somewhere like the National Gallery and have a look around, it’s easy to look at paintings without looking at them. There are hundreds of them, and after a while they all blur into one. Well, during my London week, I decided to join one of the guided tours that they organise daily.

The tour lasted an hour. During that time, we looked at four paintings (in four different rooms). The guide was extremely knowledgable (of course). We spent about 15 minutes on each painting and during that time, she explained the painting style of the time, fashion, the story of the painting and she also told us about relevant myths and biblical implications. Yep… she packed a lot in (she talks very fast). Here’s a hint however: the tour are popular so you need to be strong-willed to get a spot not too far away from the guide as the galleries are busy and it’s easy to get distracted by other voices.

Guided tours take place every day 11.30am–12.30pm and 2.30–3.30pm, Sainsbury Wing Information Desk. FREE.

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