A reckoning with Art, Design and Boredom

How a visit to Somerset’s Courtald Gallery left me with new perspectives on art, life and colour

I was in London on my umpteenth trip and utterly frustrated with yet another day of constant downpour that was pulling me back into bed rather than inviting me out for a new experience. I was essentially alone and in the middle of a career change so pretty mentally bored and resultantly decided to seek the sole remedy to all my bad days - gelato. Every time the weather is warm, buying ice cream brings forth a life crisis for me as being in my late 20s I’m old enough to realise licking ice cream that drips down the side of my hand from my cone is no longer cute but not old enough yet to stop myself from ordering a waffle cone instead of a safe cup. As I struggled to lick my scoop and bring down its circumference from the insta-worthy Italian style big scoop to the sweet looking sorbet style scoop which has a circumference less than the cone’s, the rain got heavier and I had to seek shelter inside the Indian High Commission and the Somerset House. Somehow the formality of the India House intimidated me and I entered Somerset instead.

A former LSE Student and a maniac level lover of Christmas in London, Somerset House was a regular part of my life living in London. I can’t count the number of times I walked onto the terrace to sun bathe in the day, look at the river in the night. But can definitely count that one beautiful evening when I put on my roller skates and danced my heart out to the super fun DJ belting out Christmas carols and pop songs while I struggled to maintain my balance on the ice rink with its grand central icon tree.

Skate at Somerset

Aside from being a fun public place for students to hang out and others to enjoy walking around, Somerset also houses Courtauld Gallery which boasts a very enviable art collection. But funnily enough, the Gallery closed for renovation in 2018, the year I moved full time to London and didn’t open for another 3 years due to which I never got the chance to walk in there some day and as a believer of serendipity, I’d say I’m thankful I didn’t visit the gallery before the day I did as I doubt I would have re-visted now which would have been a loss as it only made sense for me to visit with the headspace I had now.

As I finished my gelato and planned my next move watching the rain from the courtyard, I came across the board for Courtald and remembered bookmarking it after seeing it on some new unconventional things to do in London list but having put it low on my priority list. Now with the rain still being quite aggressive and me being sure about not wanting my leather boots looking worn out from the rain, I decided to check out Courtald.

The humans in the paintings on the walls moved back into their home after an extensive renovation and I can say must have forgotten their whole 3 year ordeal looking at their charming new space. A lover of minimalism and monochromes, I struggle to use bright colours but the pops and accents of colours all around Courtald are a sight to behold. The spaces exude vibrance, warmth, fun and a sense of contemporary that’s in stark contrast to its collection. Reminiscent of the Tulip Staircase in Greenwich, the blue railings, the sun lit well, the spiral shape, the curved artwork, all are a sight to behold and ensure you make your way to the top floor even if its just to be on the steps a little longer. The arched openings with yellow walls house balcony sit outs and turn sunnier with the sunlight. The nook within the bookcase next to the window with the comfiest looking armchair makes one want to spend days at end reading every book the gallery shop has to offer. A cosy sized gallery, Courtald with its renovations has retained the ceiling and open space grandeur of traditional London galleries but has done away with the formality of stone wall panelings and dark coloured walls and even though I’m a fan of traditions, this was a lovely breath of freshness.

Staircase at Courtald Gallery (Source : Author)

Arched Opening Framing a view of the

remnants of the old walls (Source : Author)

Lower Floor Sit-Outs (Source : Author)

Ever since I was little, art fascinated me. I remember always having been in art classes, participating in exhibitions, indulging in crafts. As a teenager, I decided to pursue design for life when I became an architect. As a young adult, I’d visit every gallery I got the chance to, read every book I could get my hands on, even going so far as to buy the big book of art. I’d say at this point I have better than average knowledge of art. I’ve crossed the stage of mocking modern art and believing it’s something I could replicate. I’ve crossed the stage of looking at an artwork and having no faint idea of what it could express or if the brushstrokes are admirable or standard. But I can’t yet talk of which artist inspired which movement or which counterpart. I can’t yet look at a masterpiece and place it in the correct movement or decipher which came before what. And I tried to learn this finesse through books, through documentaries, through movies. Might even have successfully faked my way through a few conversations. But it wasn’t until this visit that I learnt the key to success in this area. I don’t mind doing the hard work, the heavy lifting, but before this visit I was doubtful of the accuracy of my efforts and if apart from being a curious reader, you’re one of those who wants to be one of those annoying art virtuoso who you’re scared of arguing with about art, let me tell you what I’ve discovered.

A few months before my visit to Courtald, I spent an entire day walking around the National Gallery in London. And I do mean an entire day. One of the very few perks of being on your own is that you can walk around museums and galleries reading the description beside every piece AND still spend some time looking at the piece without adjusting your speed to be quicker to satiate your accompanying partner. As an extremely organised and control freak person, like a project, I made sure I visited every room, in the order intended. After a few hours of trying to capture on photo every work and artist I liked, of making notes on my phone of my observations as I didn’t have anyone to talk to (one of the many downside of being on your own), I looked up on amazon and found the accompaniment book guide for the National Gallery. I took a sigh of relief realising I had a source of revision instead of relying solely on my notes. Upon the end of my visit, I found the same book in the gallery store, bought it and spent my entire trip reading through that till I had a good grasp of the movements and the artists who worked in it. Travelling to Dubai, I got the chance to see the Immersive Van Gogh Experience which allowed me to identify his life circumstances, mental health and physical journey in his works. Spending a day at the National Gallery of Modern Art Delhi duration of which was proportional to the size different between London’s National Gallery and Delhi’s NGMA, I walked around with my gaze moving repeatedly towards all of Amrita Shergill’s many experiments. Coming back I read up on her only to see how inspired she was by Paul Gaughin and Paul Cezanne, much like Van Gogh. So when I visited Courtald with its historic collection, I can’t talk of my excitement at seeing Van Gogh’s self portrait with the bandaged ear that I’d read about in the show guidelines. I was having a ‘how best to publicly share how I feel at this moment’ moment while finally looking at those fruit bowls of Cezanne that Shergill was inspired from, his landscapes that Van Gogh used as his reference points, Gauguin’s depiction of people in their everyday lives that Amrita emulated. I could practically see how Monet moved from his work of vases filled with flowers to water Lillies in Giverny.

Monet's Vase of Flowers (Source : Author)

Van Gogh's Self Portraits with

Bandaged Ear (Source : Author)

Gauguin's Te Rerioa (Source : Author)

Cezanne's Still Life (Source : Author)

Monet's Autumn Effect (Source : Author)

In that moment I understood that the key to understanding art appreciation was visiting every museum I got the chance to in the way collections were curated. I fell again in love with the idea of galleries knowing that you can’t casually observe artworks on the internet in depth and let your head make connections without you unintentionally connecting those dots. I figured out that with everything to study and learn in life, in art also you need constant practice supplemented with readings, knowledge, discussions and an open mind.

From a confidence that my ability to appreciate art was getting better, from feeling a little bit free to use colours in my field of interior design, the visit to Courtald gave me a fresh perspective on a lot of things but most importantly it also gave me a much needed lesson I once heard about in a podcast - it is very important to get bored and if you allow yourself to be bored instead of planning every minute of everyday, you could find something you didn’t know you needed to learn.