A revamp that showcases one of our best collections
Courtauld Gallery
It hasn’t been a straightforward three years at the Courtauld Gallery. After closing in 2018 for a total refurbishment, it ran into the twin obstacles of a pandemic and the discovery of a medieval cesspit beneath the basement. Next week, a year later than planned, the gallery reopens its doors to the public. Has the wait been worth it? Absolutely.
The core of the collection was built up by the textile magnate, Samuel Courtauld, in the early 20th century. And if one were to compile a list of the top 50 paintings in this country, the gallery could make a decent claim to owning at least five – including The Card Players (1892-6) by Cézanne, Nevermore (1897) by Gauguin and Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889) by van Gogh. (Samuel had a particular love of Post-impressionism.)
Before the £57million overhaul – led by the Stirling Prize-winning architects, Witherford Watson Mann – the Courtauld had received strikingly similar responses in its visitor surveys. “Great art, shame about the presentation,” was the gist. Masterpieces were hung from the ceiling on chains and lit by a combination of picture lights and bulbs in clunky chandeliers. Shadows and glare were frustratingly common. The refurb has done away with these, and modern lighting rigs on the ceiling now cast even light on the collection.
There are 300 works on show, the same number as before. The favourites all remain, though a few dozen pieces have been replaced. Among the eye-catching substitutes is Oskar Kokoschka’s The Myth of Prometheus (1950), a vast triptych partly inspired by the artist’s fears about the Cold War nuclear arms race. (It has spent the past 15 years in storage.)
Visitors may notice one change before even setting foot through the door. At busy times, queues for entry used to stretch past the branch of Greggs on the Strand outside, as the small foyer just couldn’t cope. Now, the foyer will be used solely for scanning pre-booked tickets, with an adjacent room used for those wishing to buy on the spot.
The Courtauld occupies the north wing of Somerset House, one of the Britain’s grandest 18th-century buildings. The first of the north wing’s many occupants was the Royal Academy, which from 1780 to 1836 held its annual Summer Exhibition in the Great Room on the top floor. This was the first purpose-built exhibition space in the UK – yet, remarkably, few recent visitors would have had any idea of that heritage. After the Courtauld moved to Somerset House in 1989, the Great Room was subdivided into four galleries.
The refurbishment has restored it to its original state. The Great Room has become great again. And what better way to fill it than by having a rejig and moving the Courtauld’s star attractions – its late 19th-century paintings – up from the second floor to the third? Some low, discreet partitions have been strategically placed about the room, so as to set up sight-lines that ensure the works don’t battle for attention. On entering, one immediately encounters Gauguin’s nude Tahitian lover, in Nevermore, before having one’s gaze directed left, to the barmaid serving champagne and peppermint liqueur in Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-bergère (one of the collection’s other two great works, alongside Renoir’s La Loge).
Another welcome change is how much more spacious everything in the gallery now feels, and this is only partly down to the improved lighting. Areas previously used as staff offices have been repurposed for showing art. This includes a smallish office on the third floor that is now charmingly reimagined as a Bloomsbury Group interior. It features paintings such as Vanessa Bell’s A Conversation (1913-16), dinner plates made by Roger Fry, a rug with abstract patterning designed by Duncan Grant that visitors are free to walk on, and a chair with a floral seat-back, also by Grant, which visitors are not free to sit in.
Let’s be clear: with its rich offerings, dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, the Courtauld was always worth a visit. What the refurb has done is improve the visitor’s experience of them. One of the nation’s jewels has been expertly polished.
The Courtauld Gallery reopens on Nov 19. For tickets, visit courtauld.ac.uk/gallery