London’s major museums and galleries are preparing to reopen their doors on the 2nd December. This not only provides a much-needed boost to museums and galleries, but offers a fantastic opportunity for the public to access some truly astounding exhibitions.
Whilst many of the nation’s collections have been accessible online during the Coronavirus pandemic, galleries and museums are still adapting to the situation to ensure as much is open as possible. The National Gallery has extended its opening hours for its Artemisia Exhibition. It is the first major exhibition of Artemisia’s work in the UK and takes the viewer through 17th-century Europe, at a time when women artists were not easily accepted. Artemisia was exceptional and challenged conventions of the time to become a successful artist.
The National Gallery also provides a last opportunity to view the much lauded Titian: Love, Desire, Death exhibition that reunites Titian’s mythological masterpieces.
The Royal Academy opens with its remarkable Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch Loneliness of the Soul exhibition, where Emin selects masterpieces by Edvard Munch to show alongside her most recent paintings.
The V&A opens its Bags: Inside Out exhibition on Saturday 12th December, which explores the style, function and design of this ultimate accessory.
Tate Britain is hosting the Lynette Yiadom-Boakye – Fly in League With the Night exhibition. This exciting display is the first major survey of one of the most important British painters working today. The figures in Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings are not real people – she creates them from found images and her own imagination. They invite viewers to project their own interpretations and raise important questions of identity and representation.
Please note: Covid regulations for museums vary in each UK nation. Institutions in Wales are now able to reopen after a two-week “fire-break” came to an end earlier this month, while those in Scotland must close if they are under Tier 4, the highest level of the country’s recently revised Covid restrictions. All museums and galleries in Northern Ireland remain closed, and will not be allowed to reopen when new regulations come into force on 27 November. (source: Museums Association)
Photo: Edvard Munch, Crouching Nude, 1917-1919. Oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm. Munchmuseet