National Portrait and National Gallery

I never grow tired of going round our great museums.  Last week we went to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery.  We have been so many times but each time we revisit we are amazed at the fact that there is always something new to see or something we have missed.  My particular interest is the Portrait Gallery and I love to scrutinise at close range and pick up the various techniques which have been used.  The most impressive paintings were Dame Kelly Holmes by Craig Wylie   (more like a photograph, I prefer a painting which provides for interpretation but this is truly superb nonetheless) and my favourite from many times of viewing - Freud's self portrait.

We also saw the Duchess of Cambridge's portrait.  When this was first unveiled I felt that maybe the artist had come in for undue criticism but having seen it .......for my part I was quite dismayed.  There were elements of likeness but the spirit and personality seemed to be missing. The features seemed to be out of proportion particularly the nose.  The pressure on these artists must be enormous and we are all so capable of providing criticism.  It really is worth going and see what people are talking about.

What we did comment on on our visit last week was about the volume of tourists.  We have to pay to go to museums abroad, ours are free to everyone.  I can appreciate that the Government want these great exhibits to be available to all but we have to be realistic and practical.

If everyone who entered these buildings paid just £1  it would go someway to cover a little of the enormous overheads.  You could exclude schools, students and senior citizens and still have change.  It really is worth thing about!!