Hello
An exciting week ahead for me, as the news gathering for my European Exhibitions Worth Travelling For post for next year takes me to Paris. Once there I will learn all about the most exciting exhibitions planned for next year in the Netherlands (yes you read that right) and then I will go to the Musee d’Orsay to see their Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Final Months show. Meanwhile in London there is lots to see. This week’s Wednesday Wishes feature Impressionists at the Royal Academy, Antony Gormley at White Cube, George Baselitz at the Serpentine and Christmas Lights at Waddesdon Manor.
St Martin in the Fields is a special church in the CW family. Mr CW’s mother was christened there. We will raise a glass to her in the festive pop up Winter Bar that has sprung up in the church yard over the Christmas period. It is the perfect place to stop for a mulled wine on the way from seeing the Trafalgar Square Christmas lights.
If you have especially deep pockets and fancy giving some art this year both Christies and Sotheby’s have big auctions of Old Masters/Classics (each auction house calls Rembrandt et al slightly different names). For most us the price tags will be too large but wandering round the auction show rooms are among my favourite things to do. Views start at Sotheby’s on Friday and Monday at Christies.
Time to get your diaries out. Notre Dame de Paris, The Augmented Exhibition is set to open in February next year at Westminster Abbey. I confess that I’m not entirely sure what to expect but the combination of both Cathedrals sounds too good to miss. Admission is included in entry to the the Abbey and booking opens on Friday 1 December.
Calligraphy is something that I would love to be able to do. Being left handed has always stymied this ambition. The nibs are all wrong. Anyway if you too have ambitions to perfect Italic script and happen to be in West London this weekend there is a Sparkle and Script workshop at Chiswick House with sparkling wine and lessons in penmanship. I’m not sure the wine will help with concentration! Tickets ar £85 and can be booked on the Chiswick House website.
When asked what they wanted for Christmas the Cultural Young Men came up with a long list of books. Not one single one of them is on my Best Books of 2023 list. If your taste tends to the political then I can let you know what will be waiting under the Cultural Wednesday Towers Christmas Tree. If however your tastes are more fiction, fact and memoir click on the purple box below for inspiration.
Happy Culturing
Catherine