Oh frabjous day

My mum, a lifelong friend of mine, my niece and I started at the Courtauld Gallery to see its exhibition of 16 Van Gogh self-portraits (about half the number he painted in his life) gathered from around the world, some together for the first time since they were painted. A magnificent and intriguing set. Apparently he considered portraiture the highest ambition of a painter and he painted himself because he was an inexpensive model on whom to practise. In one of his letters to his brother he wrote that the painter's role was 
'to show people that there's something else in human beings besides what the photographer is able to get out of them with his machine... And painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine can't go.'
I didn't know he had views on (early) photography.

So these were presented as Van Gogh practising technique rather than, as they are often described, insights into his mental state. But a very moving pairing were: a heartbreakingly haggard portrait painted at the end of August 1889, when he was in the psychiatric hospital, and another painted a week later much more like his earlier portraits. He was, we were told, painting his own features in order to help him regain his sense of identity: 
'If I recover... it'll be because I've cured myself by working, which fortifies the will.'

The Courtauld is full of marvellous paintings but as I came out of the two rooms of Van Gogh portraits, they were so filling my head that I couldn't look at any more pictures. 

We sat overlooking the Thames on the Somerset House Terrace in warm sun, unimaginable a week ago, while at least I allowed my sparking brain to calm down.

Lifelong friend and I then made our way to the Barbican for the first London concert since coronavirus by Penguin Cafe. Oh, what jubilant glory - even the opening lament. There was a harmonium on stage, played occasionally by the percussionist and I couldn't help hoping... It must be a complete pain for a band to know that there is one piece that everyone wants to hear but they kindly indulged us, as the final encore.

The sound quality isn't great but the version we heard (a variation on the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra version) starts 50 seconds in here - only 17 views as I link to it - let's see whether Blip can double that.

For purists and fans one of the original versions is here.