London and Kent Friends Group and Social Events

London in the Second World War at The National Archives

Wed, Feb 18 · 5:00 PM GMT

The London Archives, The London Archives 40 Northampton Road London EC1R 0HB, London, GB

London in the Second World War at The National Archives

Free, but booking required here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-in-the-second-world-war-exhibition-tickets-1234531861029

This free exhibition explores the experiences of Londoners during the Second World War and the effect it had on the city they knew. Using the London County Council bomb damage maps, personal diaries, rarely seen original artworks and atmospheric photographs we will tell the story of the people that lived and worked in a city at war.

What was it like to live through the Blitz, to see your neighbourhood change overnight, or to be a volunteer with one of the city’s emergency services?

The exhibition also examines the way that London sought to rebuild after the war, through the creation of the County of London plan, and how this was put into place at Poplar’s Lansbury Estate for the opening of the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Afternoon Visit to the Courtauld Gallery

Tue, Feb 24 · 2:30 PM GMT

The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, the Strand, WC2R 0RN, London, GB

Join us on a visit to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, Strand to see original works by Manet, Monet, van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Renoir, and Seurat as well as Rubens and Botticelli.

Entry is £14.00 in advance from https://myaccount.courtauld.ac.uk/events

My (David) season ticket allows free entry to one companion, so the first person to RSVP could arrange to meet me outside before the event and come in on my ticket.*

RSVPs close one week before the event.

The Courtauld’s much-loved permanent collection includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts ranging from the Renaissance through to the 20th century.

The Gallery is renowned for its remarkable group of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including the world-famous A Bar at the Folies Bergère by Édouard Manet, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent van Gogh and the most significant collection of works by Cézanne in the UK. These masterpieces are presented in the Courtauld Gallery’s spectacular LVMH Great Room, one of the largest spaces in Somerset House, alongside works by artists including Degas, Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, Seurat and more.

The Blavatnik Fine Rooms, spanning the Piano Nobile across the whole of the second floor, provide the stunning setting for displaying works from the Renaissance to the 18th century. Highlights include Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Family of Jan Bruegel the Elder and The Descent From The Cross by Peter Paul Rubens, The Trinity with Saints altarpiece by Sandro Botticelli, and Landscape with a flight into Egypt by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The Ruddock Family Gallery is dedicated to the Courtauld’s important collection of Medieval and Early Renaissance paintings and decorative arts. Rooms devoted to 20th century art and the Bloomsbury Group also showcase lesser-known areas of the collection through rotating displays.

*This offer is conditional on my attendance and can be withdrawn or cancelled at any time before the event. Anyone who takes up this offer and then cancels, does not attend, or arrives after the agreed meeting time will, at the hosts sole discretion, be excluded from any offers of this nature for any event.