Somerset House before the Embankment was built

This morning we visited the Courtald Institute in Somerset House. Both are well worth the visit and it would be easy to spend a morning sitting watching the 55 dancing fountains in the elegant courtyard. The Courtald is, quite simply, a gem. A small, eclectic collection, it boasts a number of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings – Cezanne, Degas, Gaugin, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Seurat, Van Gogh – that would be recognised worldwide (Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergere, for example). But the collection ranges from the 14th to the 21st century and houses some exquisite lesser-known works. We were particularly taken by a sublime Gothic polychrome sculpture of a Madonna, the Lady’s alabaster cheeks slightly flushed, as though she were a little bit embarrassed by all the attention. To close, here’s a throwaway fact, taken from the programme notes for Picasso’s Yellow Irises (1901). That year Picasso was commissioned to provide 64 paintings for an exhibition of his work and so he painted three pictures day, day after day, including the Yellow Irises. I wonder what we would make of an artist and his output if he or she were to do that today…