LONDON FOR (ART)LOVERS
London For (Art)Lovers - Luxury Travel Magazine
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London For (Art)Lovers | |||||
| By: Beatrice Spence, Issue 47 – Winter 11 | |||||
| London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Gallery, Haunch of Vension, Saatchi Gallery, National Gallery, Hayward Gallery | |||||
| CONTEMPORARY ART LOVERS ARE SPOILT FOR CHOICE IN LONDON. BEATRICE SPENCE NARROWS IT DOWN AND SPENDS A PERFECT ART DAY IN THE BRITISH CAPITAL. The Dorchester is within easy reach of Heathrow and its location opposite Hyde Park is perfect for a weekend of gallery visiting in London. It first opened in 1931 on Park Lane and has accommodated over the years numerous celebrities including Winston Churchill during the World War II years, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and more recently Nicole Kidman. As London was abuzz with royal wedding fever, it seemed appropriate to stay at a hotel whose décor was steeped in the English tradition of floral comfort, and importantly for the bleak winter season, apparently has the deepest baths in London. Our suite was large and comfortable with a four-poster bed and a spacious bathroom built in Italian white marble in the art deco style of its construction date, both overlooking Hyde Park. As we came and went over the next two days we noticed that the suite next door had 24-hour body guards and we had great fun imagining who this well guarded guest might be. Deciding on a morning walk we simply crossed the road on foot to be in the extensive gardens of Hyde Park. Walking through Kensington Gardens, as well as passing the famous Peter Pan sculpture, we came across a series of installations by renowned London sculptor Anish Kapoor who seems to be very popular at the moment with 2010 seeing his work exhibited across Europe, including at the Guggenheim Bilbao. Using reflective surfaces, the sculptures, such as Sky Element, isolated facets of the surrounding environment. The show was organised by the Serpentine Gallery, which specialises in exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Situated in the park near the Serpentine Lake, the gallery has constantly changing exhibitions. Next stop is Haunch of Venison, which is in Burlington Gardens, behind Fortnum & Masons and either a five-minute cab ride from the gardens, or a 15 minute walk. With galleries in Berlin, New York and London, Haunch of Venison has constantly changing exhibitions of internationally renowned contemporary artists with work available for sale. Often the exhibitions are quirky, fun installations such as the oversized felt octopus-like piece in the stairwell by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. Around the corner in Sloane Square is Saatchi Gallery, started by advertising guru Charles Saatchi but who is now perhaps better known for his involvement in launching the careers of many of the Young British Art artists who dominated the international art scene of the nineties such as Damien Hurst. Likewise Saatchi Gallery continues to show relatively unknown British and international artists and is always worth a visit to see the latest acquisitions and exhibitions (all exhibitions are free). From Saatchi you may want to either head to the National Gallery and ogle all the paintings you have only ever seen reproduced in books and have some lunch in nearby Convent Garden or for more contemporary British art venture down to the Southbank cultural area to the Hayward Gallery. Hayward Gallery opened in the sixties and has an ongoing changing exhibition programme and hosts shows such as Young British Art, and from mid May this year will run a survey show on artist Tracy Emin until the end of August. Last stop of the day is the spectacular Tate Modern also located at Southbank. Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron’s Tate Modern is a minimalist conversion of the Bankside power station and has been so successful that although originally designed for 1.8 million visitors a year, the gallery now receives over 4 million. The spectacular Turbine Hall is the huge entrance hall to the Tate Modern that is over five stories high, with 3,400 metres square of floor space. It was designed to house large-scale works by contemporary artists and each year an installation/sculpture is commissioned as part of the Unilever series. In addition to the permanent collections, which are displayed by themes rather than the more traditional methods of movement or chronology, the Tate Modern has a constantly changing programme of world class exhibitions, with a retrospective of Miró running until late September this year. After a recovery soak in the best bath ever back at the Dorchester we end up in Soho at Barafina for dinner. Barafina opened a couple of years ago to rave reviews and we wanted to see if they still held. Located on Frith Street, apart from a few tables outside, diners are seated at a long bar. No bookings are taken and a long queue runs alongside the bar and out into the street. The queue is kept content by a waiter plying them with a good selection of Spanish wine and antipasti and everyone develops an appetite seeing the selections of tapas being brought out. Specials included dishes such as fresh over-sized Mozambique prawns and regular favorites such as sardines a la plancha and tortilla. A stand out was the lamb cutlets with parsnip puree. The dishes were defined by their freshness and the quality of produce. My dining companion who had recently been in San Sebastian, which is renown for its tapas, thought Barafina’s had the edge and was worth the London prices. | |||||
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