Art Exhibitions ARTS and CULTURE

The Courtauld Gallery

Van Gogh_Self Portrait
Written by Aksel Ritenis

Van Gogh_Self Portrait

One of the finest small museums in the world

The Courtauld Gallery has one of the most important and best-loved collections of European paintings and drawings in Britain, displayed in the elegant 18th century setting of Somerset House in Central London. The Courtauld’s collection ranges from the Renaissance to the 20th
The Courtauld also offers an exciting and critically-acclaimed programme of temporary exhibitions on subjects reflecting the scope and range of the permanent collection.
century and include a world-famous group of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings with masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin, amongst others.

Manet to Van Gogh: The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists

The Courtauld Gallery is best known for its outstanding collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, drawings and prints. Manet’s iconic A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1881-82, draws visitors from around the world and forms the centrepiece of a dazzling array of masterpieces by every major artist of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements. Renoir’s celebrated La Loge is displayed alongside great works by Monet, Degas and other members of the Impressionist circle. The innovations of the Post-Impressionists are powerfully expressed in major canvases by Gauguin, Seurat and Van Gogh, including the latter’s famous Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889. The Courtauld also holds the largest collection of Cézanne’s paintings, watercolours and drawings in Britain, spanning the artist’s career and including a number of his most important works such as Montagne Sainte-Victoire, c.1887, and The Card Players, c.1892-95.


Medieval and Renaissance Treasures
The Courtauld’s earliest collections include a fine group of exquisitely carved medieval ivories and a glittering array of Italian 14th-century gold-ground paintings. Outstanding amongst these treasures is the Crucifixion with Saints, 1348, a multi-panelled altarpiece by Bernardo Daddi; a series of delicate panels by Fra Angelico and the Master of Flémalle’s Entombment Triptych, c.1420, one of the outstanding works of early Netherlandish painting. Among the many important later works are Botticelli’s large altarpiece depicting the Trinity, c.1491-94; the only complete surviving pair of Renaissance wedding chests (cassoni); Lucas Cranach’s much-loved Adam and Eve, 1526; and two rare paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Rubens-Family of Jan Bruegel

Rubens and the Baroque
The Courtauld has one of the most important collections of paintings and drawings by Peter Paul Rubens, ranging from his portrait of The Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder, c.1613-15, to the magisterial late Landscape by Moonlight, c.1635-40. Among the 18th-century holdings are a superb group of oil sketches by Tiepolo, one of the greatest and most inventive painters of the period, as well as Goya’s portrait of the Spanish statesman Francisco de Saavedra and Gainsborough’s tender image of his wife, probably painted on her fiftieth birthday.

About the author

Aksel Ritenis

Axel is the Editor and Publisher of Connoisseur Magazine "for the Finer Things in Life" and has been the custodian of the magazine for over 10 years and leader of a team of freelance Journalists and Community Members who continue to make it all happen!-Join the Team at Connoisseur Magazine!

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