Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers ★★★★★ The National Gallery | Sep 14, 2024 - Jan 19, 2025


This exhibition is a triumphant celebration of The National Gallery's Bicentennial. Taking inspiration from the Gallery's purchase of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" (1888) exactly 100 years ago, the exhibition concentrates on the two years which the painter spent in southern France in Saint-Rémy and Arles. Along with pictures from the National's own holdings, the show presents work which has been borrowed from an astonishing number of international institutions. There are pieces from Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Ottawa, not to mention those masterpieces from various collections in America. The theme of the exhibition, Poets and Lovers, may seem rather narrow, not really resonating with many of the works presented, but if it is extended as a metaphor to encompass the presence of emotion and artifice as components of the creative process, it can provide a fascinating perspective on Van Gogh's oeuvre. This is an artist always walking a line between nature and invention, the material and the magical. All of the pieces start from real moments which are then elevated through the power of the artist's imaginative process. Whether the subject is a still life, portrait or landscape the uniquely recognisable technique imbues them with a powerful emotional content. The exhibition is divided into six sections: Introduction, The Garden: Poetic Interpretations, The Yellow House: An Artist's Home, Montmajour: A Series, Decoration and Variations on a Theme. The highlights of the exhibition are so many including the bringing together of two sunflower paintings with "La Berceuse (The Lullaby)" (1889) in a hanging that Van Gogh himself imagined. There is a self-portrait and his depiction of his bedroom from 1889, and so much more. We'd also advise spending some time with the drawings which are too easy to pass over in favour of the manifold feast for the eye. The technique of the consummate colourist is beautifully depicted in these views around Montmajour. If you only take in one exhibition this season, then this should probably be your choice. The bringing together of such treasures in a single show may not come along again till The National Gallery's next bicentennial.

Rated: ★★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône, 1888. Musee d’Orsay, Paris, Donation of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kahn-Sriber, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Fernand Moch, 1975. Photo © Grand Palais RMN (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

When, Where, Getting there:
Sep 14, 2024 - Jan 19, 2025
Mon - Thu: 10 am - 4:45 pm, Fri: 10 am - 7:45 pm
Sat - Sun: 10 am - 4:45 pm
The National Gallery, Main Floor Galleries, Rooms 1 - 8
Nearest tube: Charing Cross
Map & Location: Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, UK

Most Popular

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

Waiting for Godot ★★★★★ Theatre Royal Haymarket | Sep 13 - Dec 14, 2024

Image
“There's no coming to consciousness without pain.” wrote Carl Jung, but in his masterpiece, Waiting for Godot , Samuel Beckett explores the pain that results from consciousness itself. Set in a bleak nowhere, this absurdist drama engages the most fundamental of questions, the unknowable meaning of existence. Estragon and Vladimir pass their time waiting for a revelation that always lies in the future, and in the interim they engage in a conversation that distracts them and gives temporary purpose to their lives. Their bickering and reflections cover a wide variety of topics including religion and relationships and provide a trenchant parody of human interaction. When two wayfarers pass by, these travellers provide diversion, but not company, for the duo. Pozzo and Lucky are yoked together in what seems to be a parody of the socio-political world which the two hobos, Estragon and Vladimir, exist outside of. It is noteworthy that in the second act when Pozzo and Lucky's condition
Full Details »

The Story of My Life ★★★★★ Stage Door Theatre | Sep 10 - Oct 19, 2024

Image
Thomas Weaver is a best selling author, who returns to his small town to deliver the eulogy for his childhood friend, Alvin Kelby, with whom he has almost lost contact. That moment causes him to recall the memories which he has mined for his stories, while simultaneously forcing him to reconsider the power of that friendship and his part in its decline. He comes to realise that nerdy and needy Alvin, who shared his obsession with the film, It's A Wonderful Life , has really been his muse. And, despite Alvin's seemingly small life, through his sharing of his sense of wonder at the world, he has actually had a far reaching effect. Neil Bartram and Brian Hill's musical riff on the perennial Christmas film's theme and also on the so-called butterfly effect produces a small touching tale that works beautifully in the intimate venue of the Stage Door Theatre. It is a setting which allows the two principals, Markus Sodergren and Tim Edwards, to make a direct emotional connect
Full Details »

Rocky Horror Show ★★★★ Dominion Theatre | September 6 - 20, 2024

Image
The show may not be as transgressive now as it was about 50 years ago, when the film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show , first came out, but it is still a great trip. From the moment we join innocents, Brad and Janet, on their accidental journey into Frank N Furter's pleasure palace we become part of a shared experience with an audience that usually gleefully shouts out commentary on the couple's experiences and enthusiastically sings along to great earworms like "Sweet Transvestite" and "Over at the Frankenstein Place." And, of course, everyone has to do "The Time Warp." This time out Connor Carson and Lauren Chia do a fine job as the naïve, young couple who stumble into a world of questionable pastimes and forbidden pleasures. As the Narrator, Maawan Rizwan, doesn't ad-lib as much as we've seen in the past, but he clearly enjoys his interactions with the audience. Edward Bullingham nails his role as Eddie with his suitably wild rock 'n&#
Full Details »

Why Am I So Single? ★★★★★ Garrick Theatre | Aug 27, 2024 - Feb 13, 2025

Image
If you're totally tired of reworked films becoming musicals and tribute shows, this may be the one for you. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss who wrote the hip historical hit show, SIX , which could have been subtitled "Why Am I So Married?" have created a new musical that deals with a more common contemporary question. Why Am I So Single? which frequently and hilariously references Lionel Bart's Oliver! is a very smart piece that mirrors the experience of two millennials on the relationship market. Best friends from uni, Oliver and Nancy, are both looking for "the one," but they are thrown back on each other's company as they try to cope with the minefield of modern dating. Simultaneously, the pair are seeking subject matter for their next big, fancy musical. The meta trope which is so often used as simply a superfluous pseudointellectual flourish actually has some thematic relevance in this show. As a narrative that is actually about self-reflection, the sel
Full Details »

The Other Place ★★★ National Theatre | Until November 9, 2024

Image
Alexander Zeldin's The Other Place is loosely based on Sophocles' Antigone. In this version, Annie, a troubled young woman with a history of mental illness, returns to her family for the scattering of her father's ashes. The ritual has been organised by her uncle, Chris, who has inherited, and is now renovating, the family home. Annie, unlike her sister Issy, objects to Chris' decision to deal with the patriarch's remains in the way he has chosen. A squabble ensues and secrets about Chris and Annie's relationship are revealed. With any modernisation of a classic, the danger is always that the epic nature of the original will be lost in the mundane. Here, many of Sophocles' themes, such as the tensions between law and loyalty, or the rightful, perhaps arbitrary, power of the state as opposed to an individual's sense of duty, are lost in the dynamics of a domestic drama. These larger issues absent, the question then becomes how much would we care about t
Full Details »

A Face in the Crowd ★★★ Young Vic | Sep 10 - Nov 9, 2024

Image
Based on the 1957 film of the same name, this theatrical production, with music and lyrics from Elvis Costello, considers some controversial current issues. When a local radio presenter who has a show that focuses on ordinary people interviews a drunk from the local jail, she manages to create a celebrity who goes on to become the toast of New York and an opinion maker who can influence American politics at the highest level. Lonesome Rhodes, the demagogue who emerges from her somewhat Dr Frankenstein experiment, is a combination of Will Rogers and George Wallace, and perhaps a little heavy-handedly, he prefigures the USA's latest embodiment of the populist charlatan who has always been a presence on the American political scene. As Lonesome moves from talk radio to television his views become ever more right-wing, his philandering more obvious and his hypocrisy more heinous. One of the problems with this narrative is that we never believe in Lonesome's man-of-the-people act. H
Full Details »

23.5 Hours ★★★★ Park Theatre | Sep 4 - Oct 5, 2024

Image
Popular teacher, Tom, is accused and convicted of having sexual relations with a 15 year old student. Carey Crim's play shows the devastating consequences of that event not only for him, but for his family and friends. While they alternate between support for his protestations of innocence and suspicion that he is actually a sexual predator, they also become victims of what has happened. Their limbo of unknowing strains relations, and the abuse and suspicion of the community becomes a penalty for Tom's defenders as well as the accused. His punishment does not end after he has served his time in prison, but equally, neither does theirs. While painting a powerful portrait of the personal toll taken on all connected to such an occurrence, 23.5 Hours also raises many serious social questions: the distinction between due legal process and justice, the differing definitions and notions of the age of consent, the balance between a community's need to protect itself and its concom
Full Details »

The Lightest Element ★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Sep 5 - Oct 12, 2024

Image
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was a female scientist whose achievements are extraordinary. She graduated from Cambridge at a time when the university did not award degrees to women. She then went on to do a doctorate at Harvard, which was bestowed through Radcliffe, as the former institution also did not provide such degrees for women. Her work in astronomy was absolutely groundbreaking, but her thesis, developed in the 1920s, that stars were largely composed of hydrogen and helium was misappropriated by a male colleague. Nevertheless her place in the pantheon of science is now secure, and this drama highlights her fascinating personal story, focussing on her determination to become Harvard's first female chair of a department. Unfortunately, the construction of this narrative suffers from various issues that face playwrights when they are trying to introduce the public to little-known historical figures. Facts about her life are rather awkwardly worked into the text, in this case using
Full Details »

Silk Roads ★★★★★ The British Museum | Sep 26, 2024 - Feb 23, 2025

Image
Two concepts that might seem to be hallmarks of our current era, connectivity and multiculturalism, are put into a fascinating historical context by this unforgettable exhibition. Silk Roads focuses on the extraordinary connections that existed among Asia, Africa and Europe in the period from about 500 to 1000 CE. The show has five divisions moving from Japan to Ireland, and it demonstrates the amazingly rich and varied interaction of different cultures during the period. A sweeping movement of goods, people, ideas and belief systems leads to a cross-fertilisation which is astonishing, but often insufficiently appreciated. With more than 300 objects and texts from almost thirty lenders, this is a stunning overview that takes the visitor on a journey which provides glimpses into the Nara period in Japan and the Tang dynasty of China. It then goes on to explore the lesser known civilisations of the Sogdians and Aksumites among others, before focussing on the Byzantine empire and the sch
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings