Theodore Gericault (1791-1824)(Man Suffering from Delusions of Military Rank (French: Le Monomane du Commandement Militaire), 1822 (Collection Oskar Reinhart am Römerholz, Winterthur)

Dear Readers, today we visited an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House, to see some paintings from the Oskar Reinhart collection. There are examples of the work of all the big name Impressionists here, but as the review in The Guardian suggested, these are generally not as ‘great’ as the ones already in the Courtauld collection. For me, some of the best paintings were actually those who came before or (technically) after the Impressionists, including this portrait by Gericault (above). Gericault is best known for his enormous painting ‘The Wreck of the Medusa’ (well worth a look if you’re in the Louvre), but he also painted a series of portraits of ‘the insane’ from the patients of his friend, Dr Etienne-Jean Gorget, who was a pioneering psychiatrist. The man in the portrait is wearing a policeman’s hat, and the ‘medal’ around his neck identifies him as a patient at the asylum. As in all of this series of paintings, Gericault is able to portray the man as afflicted whilst preserving his dignity as a human being, maybe because there was a history of insanity in Gericault’s family, and his own mental health was fragile.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)Ward in the Hospital in Arles, 1889, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur, Switzerland

There were also two Van Goghs in the exhibition which have never been seen in the UK, both painted in the last years of Van Gogh’s life. Following the artist’s cutting off of his ear, he was taken to a hospital in Arles, where he continued to paint. I rather like the painting above – the stove seems to be almost a character in itself. Both this and the other painting made in Arles (below) have a distinct blue-green tinge to them, and I wonder if this was how Van Gogh saw the world, or if there really was a kind of ‘bottom of the sea’ atmosphere to the hospital.

The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles, 1889, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur, Switzerland

And finally, a ‘proper’ Impressionist painting – Claude Monet’s ‘The Break Up of Ice on the Seine (1880-81). Monet loved the paint the same scene multiple times, from different angles and in different lights, as if once he found something that interested him he had to explore every facet of it.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) The Break Up of Ice on the Seine (1880-81) Oskar Reinhart Collection

I love the way that Monet has managed to show both the reflections and the solidity of the ice, and the coldness of the image almost has me pulling a scarf around my neck.

I enjoyed this exhibition, and it’s really worth wandering around the rest of the collection, which has some Impressionist masterpieces and also, on the first floor, some very interesting Medieval altarpieces – I think after my trip to Ravenna I feel like anything after the end of the first millennia BCE is modern, but there we go. And it was so good to be able to wander around London again, even though I still keep an open for trip hazards, of which there are many.  London is such a gift for the art lover, we are so lucky.