Travel: National Gallery

The National Gallery is worth the visit. First off, it’s free (by donation). Secondly, it’s full of beautiful art and rich in history. We visited on a busy Sunday morning and got to see everything we wanted.

National Gallery

One of my favourite Google features is the note on ‘people typically spend this much time here.’ When I’m trip planning it gives me a reasonable idea on how long an experience will take us. For the National Gallery Google says 2 hours and for us, we spent 1 hour and 55 minutes there. Well done, Google, well done.

You enter from the left of this main building, right across from Canada House. We were standing in a line of maybe 8 people before we made our way through security and I saw all of these Canadian flags. Made me feel at ease and right at home. Although, it took me a moment to realize – hey, those flags are out of place. What is that building? It’s Canada House.

It is kind of like an embassy, but called the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom. Canadians can visit Canada House for passport renewals or for emergency assistance. See it off to the right?

Okay, back to the gallery. Inside the rooms are gorgeous even without all the art. The high ceilings and the ornate moulding. Even the wallpaper is beautiful.

Impressionism

My favourite pieces while visiting the National Gallery were the Degas and Monet pieces below. I love impressionism and find it very calming.

The gallery had only 4 Degas paintings – I was surprised they didn’t have more. And, when I saw the little sign that says ‘New Loan’ I considered myself lucky to see this masterful pastel work of art.

The Monet below shares some of those same colours – simply perfect.