Hello there & happy new month! Here is a round-up of the free events held at The National Gallery in April:
DAILY (and Friday evenings)
Every day at 11.30am and 2.30pm there is a free introductory guided tour of the collection; lasts 1 hour. During the tour a Gallery lecturer will take a closer look at five to six paintings so that you can get an overview of the collection. Every Friday (the only day of the week the National Gallery stays open late until 9pm) there is an extra tour starting at 7pm. Don’t miss the ones on Saturday, 20 April, by Leslie Primo. He is humorous, informative and inspiring!
FOR CHILDREN
On Sunday mornings (10.30am & 11.30am) there are free interactive story sessions (last 30 minutes) inspired by pictures in the National Gallery for children aged 2-5 years. For children aged 5-11 years there are free creative workshops starting at 11am and 2pm (last between 80 minutes and 2 hours). Places are limited and allocated up to one hour before the event (children must be accompanied by an adult).
There are extra similar events on Monday 8 April and Tuesday 9 April 2013.
FOR FRIENDS OF MUSIC
There are free concerts/recitals on two Fridays this month (12 & 19 April) all starting at 6pm (they last one hour):
12 April: free concert with baritonist Luke Williams and pianist Ian Tindale, performing a varied repertoire inspired by the paintings in Room 34- 19 April: Free concert with quartet Tir Eolas (Philippa Mercer (flute/voice), Laura Snowdon (guitar), Georgie Harris (bass) and Ruairi Glasheen (percussion)), performing a varied repertoire inspired by the paintings in Room 34.
FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE
On Saturday 27 April (11.30am) there is a free description session of three landscape oil sketches by Frederic Church – “Niagara Falls, from the American Side”, “Winter Twilight from Olana” and “Floating Iceberg, Labrador” for blind and partially-sighted visitors. Meet at Sainsbury Wing Information Desk; advance booking recommended to guarantee a place: Tel: 020 7747 5855 Email: education@ng-london.org.uk
FOR DEAF, DEAFENED AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE
On Thursday 18 April (1pm) there is a free talk by Aliki Braine who will look at the general practice of sending artists out alongside explorers during the 19th century, together with the sketches produced by Balke during his epic journeys; with live speech-to-text transcription supported by STAGETEXT.
FOR CREATIVES & DOERS
If you like drawing there are free Talk & Draw sessions on Fridays (5, 12 & 19 April) starting at 1pm (last 1 hour) and an extra one on Friday 5 April at 6.30pm, where the participants join a lecturer and an artist in order to explore one of the paintings of the collection. Places are limited to 40 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Firstly, the lecturer discusses the painting in a short talk and then the participants respond to the painting by making their own drawing. Materials provided (for free).
In April your inspiration will be:
- 5 April: Frans Hals’s painting “Young Man holding a Skull“
- 5 April (6.30pm): Carracci’s painting “Silenus gathering Grapes“
- 12 April: Tintoretto’s painting “The Origin of the Milky Way“
- 19 April: (attributed to) Sebastiano del Piombo’s painting “The Raising of Lazarus“
There is also a free Talk and Create event on Friday 26 April at 1pm where artist Jo Lewis will show the participants how to capture and experience the dynamic elements of light, movement and energy in Turner’s painting “Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway” through thinking and sketching quickly.
FOR THE BUSY ONES
On weekdays at 4pm there are free 10-minute talks/introductions to one painting each day (on a weekly basis). In April the paintings to be examined are:
- on Mondays (1, 8, 15, 22, 29 April): Altdorfer’s “Christ taking Leave of his Mother“. Where are the 7 little people?
- on Tuesdays (2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April): Titian’s “The Death of Actaeon”
- on Wednesdays (3, 10, 17, 24 April): Corot’s “Italian Woman”
- on Thursdays (4, 11, 18, 25 April): Canaletto’s “The Stonemason’s Yard“. Can you spot the spinner?
- on Fridays (5, 12, 19, 26 April): Titian’s “The Death of Actaeon”.
Have an exciting April!
To get the full list of events and all their details in order to make plans for any future dates please scroll down to the calendar and click on the event(s) you are interested in.
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