There are so many art museums all across the world. As someone who has a strong interest in art and who spends quite a lot of time in museums as a hobby, an employee, and an artist, I’ve attended many of these establishments, where I have spent so many hours. I just love them! These places are spaces that are generally quiet and you are able to explore them at your own pace. You can pick and choose what you want to see –that is… if you don’t want to see it all. Museums and galleries are places that hold and display collections of artwork based on their mandate. They display the artwork in exhibitions in order to share particular themes and ideas addressed by the artists through their artwork. They are basically libraries that instead of holding a collection of books expressing information, ideas, and stories using the written word - art museums collect and show artwork expressing stories and ideas visually. In doing this, artwork communicates these ideas breaking through language barriers and can be much more open to diverse interpretation.
Like the library, art museums hold these collections to share with the public. The artwork and artists featured in these institutions are diverse. Art galleries showcase art from creative beings that come from all across the globe. It’s a place to see what artists, past and present, have created in various types of media. Museums are a place to learn and expand your mind, a place to find inspiration and develop new ideas, and it’s an amazing place for artists like myself to find direction for my own art practice.
Some of the biggest art galleries all have a main draw. There are many museums with notable treasures to see. The Louvre in Paris has the Mona Lisa, The MoMa in New York has Starry Night, The Birth of Venus is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, and the Tate Britain has an impressive collection of artwork by J.M.W. Turner.
Each museum is unique and features different artwork and collections. Some of these museums and art galleries exist within buildings that are examples of some of the most beautiful architecture, like a church. Some of these places are just as impressive as the art collections it holds. Some buildings are converted, re-purposed, historic, some represent a particular style or time period, including new modern creations that push the boundaries of what a museum can be or look like.
The Tate Britain in London, England is a wonderful art museum with plenty to see on exhibit inside, including the beautiful architecture. It also has a lovely façade on the exterior as well. Large rooms, high ceilings, attention to detail, coloured stained glass windows, patterns, line and repetition throughout the museum, with every room different in its own way. Using ornamental details of a traditional or classic style in the decorative elements in each room, along with diverse wall treatments from wall paper to a diverse paint palette, every gallery room I entered held my interest. I spent just as much time admiring the room as I was admiring the artwork that each room displayed.
Sure there are many great works of art to come and see at the Tate Britain, no matter what your taste. As mentioned there are Turners, as well as popular works by John Singer Sergeant, Mark Rothko, William Morris, Francis Bacon, William Moore, Rachael Whiteread, Bridget Riley, John Everett Millais and everything in between. But more and more I became interested in the building as a whole. The presentation of the artwork on display in each gallery room and the details and architecture of each room, looking at how it all comes together and how it impacts what I see, think and feel while in the space.
Architecture for me has become a real draw. Especially when traveling. It’s so interesting to me seeing new places, how different cultures function and how old historic buildings are preserved, valued as a heritage site and are re-purposed, but only in extreme cases are they ever knocked down to make room for something new and flashy. I suppose I am so intrigued because I am from the suburbs just north of Toronto, Canada. A place where rows and rows of cookie cutter houses exist, they all look the same and aren’t really built to last. Here in Canada the value of heritage sites and historic buildings doesn’t seem to exist and the few buildings that do are few and far between. We don't have structure that are thousands of years old as we are a relatively young nation in comparison to the UK, Europe and other parts of the world. I think my interest in architecture has grown since taking up photography. I love photographing old buildings when the light and shadows are just right, creating a sense of drama or a mood to the image. The Tate Britain is definitely one of these places and I enjoyed my time there, wandering the halls and galleries to get inspired and do some architectural photography… and enjoy the art exhibitions of course.
If you ever get the chance to visit the Tate Britain, it is a lovely place to spend an afternoon, especially on a rainy day in London. Below is a small gallery of a the things that I saw at the Tate Britain on my last visit there in the fall of 2023’.
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