Tourist Tuesday: The Victoria & Albert Museum

I can’t believe I haven’t written about the Victoria & Albert museum before because it’s my favorite museum in London. Second to the Science Museum, which is where I work, it’s the museum I’ve visited the most. I love the V&A. Initially I thought about it as an art museum but it’s so much more than that. It’s a museum full of beautiful objects that celebrate the creativity and abilities of humans across the world. The objects include art, fashion, culture, architecture, and design. It’s glorious and beautiful, and I love it. 

The museum is located in South Kensington, right next to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. It’s been there since 1857 and was once called the South Kensington Museum. Then in 1899 Queen Victoria laid a foundation stone for a new facade and entry way, and the museum was renamed. It’s an expansive place and every time I go I discover new rooms and objects.

There are a few different ways to enter the V&A. You can use the side entrance on Exhibition Road and you can use the underground walkway connected to the Tube. You can also enter through the main entrance on Cromwell Road. If you enter through a side door, make sure you find your way to the main hall. Once you’re there look up and take in the Dale Chihuly glass chandelier (photo above). Who knew glass could have such dynamic movement?! I also love it because it’s modern and colorful in a pretty classical looking entryway. It’s a juxtaposition I love.

The first time I went to the V&A was shortly after I moved to London. I went to meet up with two classmates from graduate school, one of whom worked at the museum. I walked through the sculpture area first and was immediately blown away. The sculptures are SO CLOSE to you! Basically I could look the busts in the eye! I thought it would be unusual to find art displayed like that in the US and I loved it. Anyway, my friends and I met in the cafe (photos below) and had tea, scones, jam, and clotted cream. The cafe itself is gorgeous with high ceilings, natural lighting, beautiful chandeliers, and lots of ornate details on the wall. It was the first time in London that I thought, yeah this is nice, I can do this. I totally recommend a little break in the cafe is you get tired from walking around the galleries. Now in planning a visit to the V&A I think there are two plans of attack. Number one: research what you want to see before you go and then find those objects once you arrive. Or number two: wander aimless and enjoy what you uncover. At the V&A I tend to go with plan number two. Every time I go I discover something I haven’t seen before, even if I copy my previous routes. For example, this last time I discovered this staircase to nowhere. I can’t figure out what it was though because the staircase to get to it was blocked off! The V&A is a mystery. This last time I went to the V&A I stayed on the ground floor and I want to share with you some things I saw. However, I do highly recommend the upper floors too. Some of my favorite things I’ve seen is a gallery full of amazing jewelry and an incredible detailed and fantastic costume from the Lion King.

What I enjoy about visiting the V&A is the huge range of objects and all of them make me impressed with what humans can achieve. Sure, as you walk from room to room seeing things from all over the world, you might ask yourself why does the museum have this and are there any ethical concerns attached to these objects? I don’t have the answers, and I do wish I knew more, but for the time being while you’re in the museum try to just feel lucky you get to see so much of humanity’s awesomeness all at once. Also, while I was there the V&A had a temporary exhibit called “All of This Belongs to You.” As part of it they had a case that talked about a few of the sculptures, it said where the object had come from, and showed images of what was going on in that place now. If I remember correctly, one sculpture used to be on a church, but now the church is no longer in use and the building is used for things like CPR training! It was so cool.

Anyway while I was there I saw sculpture, I saw religious alter pieces, ornately carved chess pieces from Indian, and gorgeous Turkish tiles. Although it’s an art museum, it doesn’t feel like a traditional art museum. There are rooms where it’s quiet and fairly empty and visitors can stand back, stare at an object and ponder it. But there are also rooms where students sketch sculptures and people sit on the floor. I think because people are allowed to use the space in different ways it makes the museum feel vibrant, engaging, and accessible when many similar museums can sometimes feel cold and too adult.

Let me also tell you about a few specific pieces. I saw this art piece called Spring Poppy Fields No. 31 (photo below). In general, I love abstract, brightly colored, bumpy paintings. They are my favorite, so this immediately caught my eye. It’s painted by Zhang Huan, a contemporary Chinese artist. The bright swirlingness is meant to evoke a feeling of hallucination – like what you would get from opium that comes from poppies. But when you look up close there are lots of tiny smiling faces (look in the bottom left of the picture, there’s a pinky face that I think you can see pretty clearly). Those faces are evocative of Tibetan skull-masks, which symbolize rebirth (also the title of the painting has the word spring in it).

Above is a photo of the Ardabil Carpet. It drew my eye in part because of its size, and in part because it was on the floor. When was the last time you saw a carpet on a museum floor? As you might imagine, it’s on the floor because of it’s weight and importance – but it’s safely protected behind glass. This carpet is from Iran and is part of a pair commissioned by the ruler Shah Tahmasp for the shrine of one of his ancestors. It was made in about 1539, and it has aged and been preserved well because it looks nearly flawless. It’s a lovely white pattern over a dark blue background and there are lots of nice flowers and ornamentation. The details are quite fine and the precision is made by the density of the knots – 304 knots per square inch.

The rooms I enjoyed the most though were the Cast Courts. Looking at casts was popular in the mid to late 1800’s because it allowed people to see things from places where they might not be able to travel. For example, the V&A has a cast of Michelangelo’s David. Before everything was accessible on the internet and everyone ever had seen David a billion times, how cool would it have been to see it up close in real life in your home town? Answer: pretty flippin cool.

Today, we are likely to discredit casts because we want to see the real thing. And I admit, I love to see the thing that witness history or that was touched and created by a genius. But I found that I loved the casts. First, casts allow objects to stay in their home country and can keep museums away from issues of theft and repatriation. 

Second, it allowed me to see things more closely than I probably would have in context. Now that might sound crazy, but let me explain. As a museum professional I have conflicted feelings about where things should be. I think some things should stay in their home countries on the buildings where they came from. And I think some things should be in museums and shared so people the world over can see them. Yet, when I looked at the casts, I feel like I looked at them more closely and appreciated the detail more fully than if they had been in their original building. In addition to the pulpit shown above, there was a gigantic decorative arched doorway. Both are amazing pieces, and I think in their original buildings I would have known they were beautiful – but everything else would have been amazing too. I wouldn’t have known where to look and I would have seen a decoration or a sculpture here and there – but I wouldn’t have seen every bit. Out of context I saw the spiral of the stairs, the expression on a lion’s face, and the curls of decorative leaves. I liked that I could be closer and see it for its own art piece.

I also was blown away by the casts of Trajan’s column (above). I’ve seen the real column in Rome, but this was almost better. Possibly, just as good. In Rome the column is on a high foundation in the middle of a public square. It’s impressive and wonderful but it’s impossible to see any of the details. Here it was up close and easy to see the artwork’s detail and narrative. It was like being in art history class again, where I got to see blown up detailed images, only this was 3D. See this column doesn’t replace the experience of seeing the real thing, but I think it builds on and enhances the original.

So clearly, there’s a lot to see at the museum. Everywhere you’ll go there’s sure to be something beautiful, astounding, surprising, and sure to make you curious and want to investigate a little bit more. I think it’s impossible to visit and not be impressed with the things people can create. The museum is free, so if you have the time I recommend going often and only for an hour to an hour and a half. That way you can wander around exploring with no agenda, have fun, and leave when you’re tired.

If the weather’s nice, I recommend ending your visit outside in the museum’s courtyard. It’s my favorite place in the whole museum. When it’s hot it’s a great place to take off your shoes and stick you feet into the water to cool off. You can watch children splash and frolic. Adults walk around and have lunch in the grass. In fact, it’s where I like to have lunch sometime during work. And everyone kicks back, relaxes a little, and enjoys the sun.