National Portrait Gallery
The National Gallery is over-rated. There, I’ve said it- no doubt enraging any art critic or ponce who might stumble upon there. Sure, it contains a priceless collection of world famous art, but my problem is that there’s a lot of filler. For every Sunflowers, Water Lillies, that smokey one of Parliament (Monet again?), or that Turner one of the boat being on fire, there’s countless other paintings of Jesus knocking about with some angels or whatever, or Arch-duke Nobody of the Principality of Doesntexistanymore. Even worse, in the case of some paintings, like Sunflowers or Water Lillies, the artist did tonnes of versions - Monet managed to churn out something like 17 versions of the same painting. So it’s hardly unique.
Even the National Gallery building itself is fraudulent - though it has a stunningly impressive fascade, behind the grand pillars and the like, is basically just a concrete box that has been done up to look old-timey.
And these are the reasons that the National Portrait Gallery kicks the shit out of it. I went there for the first time the other day, and it’s sad to see such an excellent gallery having to play second-fiddle to its crappy sibling next door. If you’re visiting London, go there instead - it’s just round the corner and much less busy.
But why is it so great? I think it’s because all of the paintings aren’t of just old-fashioned scenes or poor people, but are of genuine celebs. And it has stacks and stacks of recognisable paintings.
We started out with the Tudors on the top floor, and there was plenty of recognisable faces and paintings that if you’ve ever read a history book or been on Wikipedia that you’d recognise. I got a dirty look off of another patron when upon seeing Catherine of Aragon and her fat face “I can see why he divorced her”.
As we moved forward through time through the Stuarts and the Georgians and to the Victorians, the gallery mostly stuck to the big names - Kings and Queens, with the odd celebrity scientist (Erasmus Darwin, for instance). Very little obscure nobility.
Unfortunately the museum closed before we got a chance to go through the 20th century, but I’d thoroughly recommend it, as it was excellent.
