This spectacular hoard,
collected by the gallery’s
founder, Samuel
Courtauld, in just ten
years, between 1922
and 1932, is dense
with goodies.
It begins with a
sketch for perhaps
the most significant
painting of the 19thspace for a mightily
impressive selection of art.
Thus the rebuild is
unquestionably a success. It
enlarges the presence of the
gallery, makes it more
comfortable to go round, and
lifts the Courtauld a couple of
rungs up the museum ladder.
Not enough people used to
come here. Now they will.
So there’s much to cheer.
But not, perhaps, everything.
As a sourpuss, I loved the fact
that when you went to the
Courtauld there was rarely
anyone else there. And the old
hang, barely changed since
the time of Samuel Courtauld,
had an individual charm to it.
The new arrangement
positions the art more
logically but makes some of
it feel less exciting. The new
gallery is more like other
museums and galleries than
0it used to be. So, yes, a lot
has been gained. But a little
has also been lost. cmiss, and by doing so enlarge
the gallery’s general presence.
Rubens, represented by two
dozen works, gets a room to
himself. The baroque age gets
a gallery. The 18th century
gets a gallery. Up, up, up we
climb, through the annals
of art, until we reach the
impressionists and post-
impressionists at the top.century — Manet’s Déjeuner
sur l’Herbe. Then come Degas
and Monet, and a wall full
of superb Cézannes.
The Gauguins,
especially the
haunting
Nevermore, are
among his finest
works. The Seurats
are exceptional. TheVan Goghs heartbreaking.
All this used to be housed
downstairs in the central
galleries. It has now been
transferred to the Grand
Gallery at the summit where
the Royal Academy used to
have its summer show. Lit
with real light from above,
spacious and airy, coved and
uplifting, it’s an appropriateTHE
CRITICS
The gallery reopens on
November 191 Paul Gauguin
Nevermore (1897)
Gauguin’s lament upon
the passing of youth is
one of his most moving
Tahitian paintings.2 Pierre-Auguste Renoir
La Loge (1874)
This view of a couple at
the theatre marked the
appearance of a new
subject matter in art.3 Paul Cézanne
Still Life with Plaster Cupid
(1894)
Cézanne turns conventional
perspective on its head in
his greatest still life.4 Édouard Manet
A Bar at the Folies-
Bergère (1882)
Manet’s last masterpiece
shows a pensive barmaid in
a popular evening dive and
casts you as her client.5 Vincent van Gogh
Self-Portrait with
Bandaged Ear (1889)
Painted just after he cut off
his ear, Van Gogh’s most
famous self-portrait is also
his saddest.COURTAULD
TREASURES
5
4
3
2
ALL IMAGES © THE COURTAULD