Courtauld Gallery, London, England

Was reminiscing about past trips, and this sublime gallery just popped into my head. I visited the Courtauld Gallery back in 2006, and it was one of the highlights of my trip. There's so many excellent museums there, but this beautiful gem was a must-see for me.

I so wanted to share the gallery with Hubby, but we didn't have time for a revisit. He wanted to spend some time at the Tate Modern, which was just ok. Though, the next time he visited he said there was an awesome exhibit there, some ginormous 2-story spider sculpture really impressed him.

£5 for the main gallery back then, apparently still is. The website now has this WONDERFUL 360° virtual gallery. It's utterly fantastic. OMG I can pretend I'm there again. I'm so happy.

Somerset House is really nice, if a bit creaky in places. Instead of grouping by artist or genre, it was grouped by collector, which I liked. Different sitting rooms housed some of each collector’s works, which really enhanced enjoyment of the works. It felt like I was wandering through the living rooms of someone's elegant house (palace), and felt the collectors' personalities and tastes. Excellent works like:

* Renoir’s La Loge (loved!) and Portrait of Ambroise Vollard
* van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear
* A later version of Manet’s Dejeuner sur l’Herbe
* Gauguin’s Nevermore
* Modigliani’s Female Nude
*Degas’ Two Dancers on the Stage
* Jawlensky’s Manola
* Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Adam and Eve
* Rubens’ The Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder
* Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère!!!!! Unbelievably fantastic. One of my all-time favorite works. I can't convey how thrilled I was standing in front of it. Back in college I had a poster of it on my wall, and I'd even picked it for a term paper subject. Loved, loved, loved!!!

I spent a leisurely 2 hours, alone at times, and was able to see everything. Afterwards I had lunch at the neat little café downstairs - a cheap English ham/Dijon baguette and latte. Tasty. Popular place for business lunchers, and many EU-area visitors.

Can't wait to visit again.