Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand WC2R 0RN. Telephone: 0203 947 7777. Website: courtauld.ac.uk
How much do the tickets cost?
You can buy adults tickets from £14. Children (under-19) are free.
What are the opening hours?
Opening times are 10am to 6pm (Mon-Sun). Last entry is 45 minutes before closing time.
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to the Courtauld Gallery takes 1 to 1½ hours.
Which buses go to the Courtauld Gallery?
Bus routes 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 77A, 91 and 176 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is Temple, which connects with the Circle and District lines. It only takes three minutes to walk to the Courtauld Gallery.
Which other attractions are nearby?
These attractions are all within 15 minutes walk of the Courtauld Gallery: Transport Museum, Cleopatra’s Needle, Covent Garden, Royal Courts of Justice, Temple Bar, Hunterian Museum, Lincoln’s Inn, Temple Church, Hayward Gallery, Sir John Soane’s Museum, Benjamin Franklin House, National Portrait Gallery, Dr. Johnson’s House, Trafalgar Square and National Gallery.
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Email My review of the Courtauld Gallery
If you’re seriously into art then the Courtauld is right up there with the National Gallery. When you walk into Somerset House from the Strand there’s usually some tables laid out by the dancing fountains where you can have a cup of tea before you go in.
Blavatnik Fine Rooms
The decor in the Blavatnik Fine Rooms is almost as beautiful as the artworks with huge marbles fireplaces, decorated ceilings and paintings from the Renaissance up to the end with the 18th-century.
The Peter Paul Rubens room has his oil sketch for The Descent From The Cross and another one has Cranach’s Adam And Eve and Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape With A Flight Into Egypt.
Then comes the best room in the building with two huge marriage chests and Sandro Botticelli’s The Trinity With Saints Mary Magdalen And St John The Baptist.
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LVMH Great Room
This is where you’ll find all the French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. It’s also where you’ll find thirty thousand tourists all crowding round Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear (I exaggerate slightly, but not by much). When Gauguin packed his bags to leave their rented house in Arles Vincent threatened him with a razor blade and sliced off his own ear. (He sounds like the world’s worst roommate – I think I would have moved out too!)
Another painting that everyone will recognise is Manet’s A Bar At The Folies Bergère. In real-life it was more of a salacious nightclub and that barmaid was offering a lot more than drinks. I always think she looks too grand for that but I suppose you don’t wear black velvet and lace to serve bottles of beer and crisps.
Also on display are eight works by Cézanne, a couple of landscapes by Monet, two of Gauguin’s Tahitian pieces, a famous ballet scene by Edgar Degas, and some of Seurat’s spots and dots.
Immediately after that comes a room full of 20th-century art and you wonder if you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. The Tate can get away with showing all of these squiggles and splats and spots and blobs, but when you’ve just seen three floors of Ruben’s, Renoir’s and Vincent Van Gogh’s then a room full of lines and triangles just doesn’t compete.
I’ve ranked the Courtauld Gallery as ★3 in my favourite London art galleries
It also appears in my two days in London itinerary
London Squire guidebook – Check out my guidebook available to buy at Amazon, Apple and Kobo. I’ve personally visited 210 London landmarks, attractions and hotels and collected all of my reviews, example itineraries, handy practical info, and advice about using the buses and trains into an eBook, along with 675 original photos
What do you think? (4)
Ask a question, or share your experience of the Courtauld Gallery
PeterH I’ve been to all the big galleries like the Tate and National but I’ve never really thought about going to the other ones around London. How wrong was I! The Courtauld is quite small but the quality of art – especially the Impressionist art – is on a par with the National Gallery. (reply)
Patricia Hi, can I bring a bag into the gallery? Do they have somewhere where I can leave a big rucksack? (reply)
↳Craig Hi Patricia. There are some small lockers on the lower-ground floor but they won’t take large items like rucksacks. If you need something like that then the closest place is probably Charing Cross station. (reply)
Sam This is my favourite gallery in London it is so lovely inside. The art is on a par with the National Gallery but it doesn’t have the overbearing crowds so you can stand back and have some space to enjoy them. (reply)
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