FLORAL ART FOR FREE: THE NATIONAL GALLERY
Words by Jessica Peace
Can’t see the snowdrops for the snow? G&T are making trips to see floral art (for free) in London Galleries.
FLORAL ART FOR FREE: THE NATIONAL GALLERY
IN THE FRAME...
‘SURPRISED!’, 1891, HENRI ROUSSEAU (ROOM 43).
Now this is what I feel like when I put my feet up by my Kentia Palm. Rousseau said his tiger was hunting the hunters. WILD.
JUNGLE IS MASSIVE
Fancy getting your gaff looking a bit ‘Surprised’? Here are two tried and tested - and easy as, jungalicious specimens:
THE CHEESE PLANT
How not to kill it?
Let there be light but no soggy bottoms.
THE PHILODENDRON
How not to kill it?
Keep it humid with your mister and avoid direct sunlight.
Pick one of each up here
‘WATER-LILIES, SETTING SUN’, 1907, CLAUDE MONET (ROOM 41)
‘I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers’, Claude Monet.
Ahh, the lilies and willow at Monet’s gaff at Giverny - is this what heaven looks like?
POND THE PICTURE - THE WATER LILY
RATING
A bit tricky
First you’ll need a pond - or bucket. Get the ‘crown’ in late spring, it is easier if you place it in an ‘aquatic basket’ before you dunk it. Submerge the crown but leave the young leaves floating in the top - VERY Monet.
‘SUNFLOWERS’, 1888, VINCENT VAN GOGH (ROOM 43)
The one we all know, but it is well worth worth stepping back and taking this in afresh. Painted for his mate and artist Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh was saying to his pal, I will follow you and your style like the sunflower follows the sun.
START YOUR SUNFLOWERS
You can sow your sunflower seeds now; just take a small pot, some good old multi-purpose compost and poke them in - about a centimetre and a half deep.
‘THE FOREST AT FONTAINEBLEAU’, 1909, HENRI MATISSE (Room 41).
Matisse was part of the group ‘The Wild Beasts’ (Les Fauves). These rebels were bashed for using broad strokes and clashing colours but this piece is right up our alley.
FRAME THE FOREST
We are not suggesting you plant this one - although if you’ve got the space then by all means. Instead, grab your sketchbooks and cameras and get down to Epping, Sydenham or the Heath, like a ‘Wild Beast’...
LET ME IN?
Open Daily 10am - 6pm
Friday Lates til 9pm
HOW DO I GET THERE?
It’s the big one at Trafalgar Square
HOW MUCH?
Permanent collections are free as