Open Courtauld Hour: Restaged!

The Courtauld Gallery will open its doors this November, following the most significant modernisation project in its history. This Open Courtauld Hour will therefore provide a rare back of house tour, a sneak preview to The Courtauld Gallery and the team behind it.

Masterpieces from The Courtauld’s world-renowned collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), and the most significant collection of works by Cézanne in the UK, will be shown together when The Courtauld Gallery reopens in the spectacularly restored LVMH Great Room – London’s oldest purpose-built exhibition space in Somerset House.

This Open Courtauld Hour is devoted to unpicking the ‘restaging’ of our cherished impressionist and post-impressionist works (as well as showing us rarely seen and displayed works). Join us, our experts and curators, in looking back at the physical journey of the collection during the galleries closure and in contextualising the LVMH Great Room. The hour will reveal the teams secret discoveries and interrogate the revamped curatorial story.

For this hour we are joined by Barnaby Wright (Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery and Daniel Katz Curator of 20th Century Art), Karen Serres (Curator of Paintings), Ketty Gottardo (Martin Halusa Curator of Drawings) and Alexandra Gerstein (McQueens Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts).

This online mini series will provide concise one hour packages of pop-up talks, performances and in detail object study sessions that explore and celebrate our collection, research in art history, curation and conservation.

The series will touch on pertinent issues — magnifying contemporary thinking in society through the field of art history. These episodes will explore how the public, artists and galleries are adapting to a digital world, showcasing art historical research in light of this global pandemic and providing a platform for creative practice in the age of social distancing.

Most importantly, as art is relevant to all, these informal sessions will give attendees the chance to access, engage and read art and art history through a different lens— revamping and rethinking art historical discussions through retelling hidden stories. These episodes will platform new perspectives, new ways into art practice, looking at art and reading its history through themes that impact us all.