I’ve traditionally gone on trips to art galleries and had lunch out during my freelance book editor ‘gardening breaks’ – as actors call breaks of no work. I’m actually quite busy but realised I had to have a break anyway, so between finishing one job over the weekend and starting a new one, I thought I’d make the trip into London to see the James McNeill Whistler exhibition at Tate Britain that I’ve been wanting to go to. One of the advantages of freelancing is that I can work over the weekend if I want to, and go off to things like exhibitions in the week when it’s a bit quieter. In fact, I’ve had two days off in the last four days because I met a friend at the Courtauld on Friday to see Hepworth in Colour.

Alistair Sooke, the Telegraph‘s chief art critic, described the Whistler as ‘The Tate’s wondrous Whistler retrospective (that) left me spellbound‘.  Knowing I planned to see the show, I also watched an old documentary that was shown on BBC4 TV a couple of weeks ago, called Private Life of  Masterpiece: Whistler’s Mother. Sooke describes this painting, which is in the exhibition, as the ‘show’s star loan (from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris)‘. I was so glad I’d watched the documentary as I stood before the painting today and understood how groundbreaking it was. I’ve always liked Whistler’s paintings; I enjoyed a wonderful exhibition at the Royal Academy – Whistler’s Woman in White – in 2022 (click here for my review), but I think it’s only the documentary and reading about the Tate’s exhibition, and going to it today, that I understood the extent to which Whistler (1834-1903) broke new ground and defied contemporary views on art. He was one of a generation of artists and writers who ‘moved away from realism … drawn to urban subjects and natural, luminous colours’ sketching quickly ‘to capture the fleeting beauty of movement and light … Later this style would become famous as Impressionism‘ (notes in the exhibition). He was one of the first to paint London’s famous smogs and mists of the time – before Claude Monet.

I love that Whistler wanted his paintings to emulate musical tones and harmony and thus many of his works are named ‘Nocturne’, ‘Note’ or ‘Symphony’ – like Symphony in White, No.2: The Little White Girl, which is in the exhibition (the ‘white’ describing the dress she’s wearing).

Whistler led a turbulent life enjoying both triumph and ruin and defying the traditional art world until the end. I’m so glad I got to the exhibition and it’s on until 27 September.

Having said above that going to an art gallery midweek is quieter than weekends, it is the start of the summer holidays and so I decided to get there pretty much when Tate opened at 10.00am. It’s a very easy journey for me: a 20-minute train ride and 5-minute walk at the other end. When I arrived, it was definitely time for a morning coffee, so I headed up to the wonderful Members’ Cafe, where it was nice and peaceful, and had an excellent coffee and pastel de nata. Tate have their own roastery and you can buy their coffee beans or ground coffee.

Then I headed downstairs to the Whistler exhibition. It was quite busy but not too bad so, with a little patience, one could wait by a painting and then have it to yourself for a while to look at properly and read the accompanying notes. I can’t, of course, post photos of any of the paintings here for copyright reasons, but do urge you to go if you’re in London before the end of September.

When I came out of the exhibition, I took a quick look at another, then went into the shop. I always like to buy a few postcards of my favourite paintings.

Then it was time to head back up to the Members’ Cafe (quite a lot of stairs involved, though I think there is a lift). Now the counter was full of tempting sandwiches, rolls, salads and other ‘light lunch’ things.

I chose a Goats’ Cheese, Spinach and Tomato quiche which came with salad. I also had another flat white coffee – and there was a big urn of water to help yourself to. It was a very nice quiche and perfect for lunch.

I then headed back to Vauxhall station to get a train home. It had been a lovely morning and one of the things I like to do best.