London: Our highlights from the Tates & the National Gallery

It's a dizzying task choosing amongst the plethora of art museums in London. After much deliberation, we decided to focus on the two big ones. The National Gallery collection was actually much smaller than I had expected. We particularly enjoyed the dozen or so Impressionist masterpieces, and more by Dutch masters. We were surprised to come across "Christ Mocked" by Bosch, which really caught our attention a couple of times in Spain when we came across other renditions of the painting. We had to google to find out that the National Gallery holds the original one.

Again, I was not particularly impressed with Tate's permanent collection. While the Tate Modern's building was impressive enough, it's their new installations that really captivated me. In Tate Britain, Hew Locke's The Procession (theme: colonialism) was at the same time, engaging, thought provoking, and extraordinary. The fact that it was a commissioned work spoke volumes to Tate's social commitment and good taste, which is also reflected in the installation outside the Tate Modern, Come Home Again, of species on London's priority conservation list. The installation being worked on the day we were there looked equally intriguing.

Since we were staying less than 5 minutes from the British Museum, on our fourth try, we finally had success at gaining access to the Assyrian panels. It was definitely a highlight. The vivid scenes the panels depicted are hardly parallelled in the succeeding 3000 years of civilization. Sadly the panels are only accessible 11:00-15:00 on certain days. I'm beginning to suspect a conspiracy.

Christ Mocked by Bosch at the National Gallery.


Myself with a couple of Van Gogh's.


Self-Portrait at the Age of 63 by Rembrandt.


The National Gallery was lively; many visitors and the occaisonal sketcher and painter.




The Procession by Hew Locke at the Tate Britain.














Walking along the south bank of the Thames to the Tate Modern, it seemed that London has as many construction cranes today as Shanghai in the 2000's.


"Come Home Again" by Es Devlin.


A new installation is on the way.


The King in his chariot in a land of palm trees - Assyrian Panels - British Museum.


Scribes counting prisoners and loot after a military victory - Assyrian Panels - British Museum.


A Lion Hunt - Assyrian Panels - British Museum..