The Tate Britain

Tate Britain art gallery

On Friday, after our exam, I travelled with 6 of my archaeology classmates into London for the afternoon/evening. We all had different things we wanted to do so we split up, with me going solo to the Tate Britain art gallery (which houses older, more historical paintings than the Tate Modern down (up?) the river). I had never been before and it was on my list of London places I really want to see. Luckily for me it's one of the big institutions (along with the British Museum, National Gallery, and others) that stays open late on Fridays; it was open until 10.

It was an easy tube journey and walk to the gallery. I always carry a London map and guidebook with me but it's hard to get lost, since these handy signs can be found every few blocks:

The gallery is right on the river Thames so I ate my dinner on a bench by the river, which was lovely.

I was expecting the gallery to be busy, but it was very quiet; I often had the entire room to myself. I was talking to one of the gallery guides, asking if Fridays were always this slow, and he looked at me, surprised, and exclaimed that this was one of their busiest Fridays yet. Lesson learned: Friday evening is the best time to visit the Tate Britain!

There was one painting in particular that I was looking for, and I was so excited when I found it. It's a painting from 1888 by John William Waterhouse called The Lady of Shalott. It depicts the main character in a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson of the same name. I studied that poem in English Lit 12 in highschool; I'm not a "poetry person" at all, but this is my favourite poem. (Find the full text here if you're interested).

I couldn't get a good photo of it but here's two so you can get the idea:

Below it is another painting I recognized, although I'm not sure from where: Ophelia (from Hamlet) by John Everett Millais, 1852.

Here's a mix of some other paintings and pieces that I saw (the gallery does have some modern art too):

?! This one's over my head I guess. I don't really
understand how people paid a lot of
money to put some folded blankets
in a gallery!

Then it was back to the Victoria train station to meet up with my friends. We got back to the castle around 11:30pm and then were up the next morning for our field study trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace and Chichester. Those will be future posts, once I sort through my 300 photos!

sculpture outside house near the Tate

houses in the Pimlico area near the Tate

view across the river