Courtauld Gallery

The Courtauld Gallery houses one of the finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world, assembled largely by one man's independent taste. Textile industrialist Samuel Courtauld began collecting French modern art in 1922 when many dismissed it as worthless. Within a decade, he had acquired Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, and a remarkable group of eight Cézannes. He founded the Courtauld Institute in 1932 to train art historians using original works rather than just photographs.

The gallery occupies the North Block of Somerset House, the rooms originally designed by William Chambers for the Royal Academy in 1780. Claude Monet's stunning Antibes series dominates one gallery, capturing Mediterranean light across multiple canvases. The Princes Gate Collection, added in 1978, brought Old Masters including works by Rubens, Bruegel, and Van Dyck. Beyond the famous Impressionists, visitors find medieval ivories, Botticelli drawings, and Italian Renaissance paintings. The collection totals over 33,000 objects spanning from the medieval period to the present day. Entry to the permanent collection became free in 2021.