Visiting London

This week my daughter and I visited London and our first port of call was at the Tate Modern. This time we did not visit any special exhibitions but just had a look round the galleries which was fun as usually there is something new to be seen. This can also have disadvantages as you may go expecting to see something you like and the curators have moved the work!
Of course we had to pop into the cafe for a hot chocolate:



This is one of the paintings that I wanted to see Almanac by Robert Rauschenberg which he made in 1962. This interests me as it contains both screen-printed images and also applied paint in the brushstroke style of the Abstract Expressionists:

Also of interest were these paintings by another American artist Barnett Newman. They are titled Adam and Eve. Eve was of special interest as I have recently completed an Art History assignment on this work. When writing about a piece of art work I definitely recommend viewing the original for yourself as seeing art in the flesh is totally different to seeing a reproduction of it in a book:

I love this work by Claude Monet of Water-lilies:




One of my favourite artists is Gerhard Richter and I was longing to see these paintings of his Cage (1) - (6) which pay homage to the American composer John Cage. They are in a room of their own and I really recommend seeing them, although I do not know how long they are on display at the Tate Modern for so it is best to check the Tate's website if you wish to see them:














I have not photographed all six of the paintings as there were quite a few people in the room where they were exhibited. They are very large paintings and it is fascinating seeing all the different layers of paint laid down by Richter with very large brushes.
It is also very interesting to see the mark making Richter uses and many separate sections of the paintings that could be seen as smaller paintings in their own right:










We also visited the Victoria and Albert Museum which had many visitors. We took a look at some of the fashion that was on display and would have liked to see the Grace Kelly exhibition but all the tickets for that day were sold out. (I think we were a little tired by this time as well!)
I had a quick look around their new Medieval & Renaissance Galleries but decided to leave a closer look at these for another day as there are three different levels all packed with art works.
One thing that was could not be ignored was the Dale Chihuly Chandelier in the entrance to the museum: