Art Underfoot

A day by train to London. A lovely lunch with our daughter, who came to meet us at Kings Cross. Then it was the Number 91 to Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. The main reason for making the trip was to see the exhibition of Cézanne’s Portraits, which is almost at an end. Having visited Aix and Cézanne’s studio on several occasions, I really wanted to see these paintings. And I’m so glad we did - an excellent exhibition I thought.

We then spent some time in the National Gallery and actually looked at the mosaics on the floors of the entrance section. Having walked across these many, many times, as has everyone else, we had never actually looked at them. Amazing!

The mosaics were created by Russian artist Boris Anrep between 1928 and 1952. He liked the idea of visitors walking on his works of art and had an irreverent approach to what he was creating. In one section called ‘The Modern Virtues’ he casts contemporary, eminent people in fantastic situations. Here is Defiance embodied by Winston Churchill on the white cliffs of Dover fending off a fearsome beast shaped like a swastika.

Now we are on the train home and hoping the snow hasn’t arrived yet.