Van Gogh

Another full day in London.  After breakfast in Gail's near the hotel, we headed off to the National Gallery as we had tickets to the Van Gogh exhibition.  A truly 'once in a lifetime' experience; 61 of his paintings gathered together from across the world into a single exhibition.  A lot that I knew but plenty that I didn't, and some absolutely fabulous paintings.  A lot of people seemed to be going around taking photos of all the paintings but not looking at them other than on their phone screen which was a bit annoying at times but I confess to taking shots of three favourites myself.

My main picture is of two versions of 'Sunflowers' flanking 'La Berceuse (The Lullaby)', a painting of Augustine Roulin as a symbolic depiction of her as an ideal of motherhood.  This was a recreation of how Van Gogh himself imagined they might have brought comfort to sailors travelling far from home had they been hung in a ship.  I've added an extra of 'Starry Night over the Rhône' just because I love it.

We then headed off to the British Museum where we saw the 'Silk Road' exhibition.  Interesting but very busy and frankly, we were a bit tired by then so didn't really appreciate it as much as we might.  Maybe one for another look some time.

Now home and relaxing.  I've added one more extra of an old bus being used by a Gin company in Covent Garden.  For those who have any interest in buses it's an old 'Bristol' single decker; I remember buses just like these when I was a kid.