Victoria and Albert

For this weeks blog we are meant to write about art---art that influences the city we are studying in; art that depicts the city; how art affects our perceptions of the place we now live. When I began writing this blog I had originally tried to think of one specific painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture or artifact that in my mind was the quintessential ideal vision of London, but I drew a complete blank. Out of the many museums and galleries that I had visited and the numerous upon numerous paintings and sculptures I had seen during my stay in London not one piece stood out against the others as something that solely associated itself with my idea of the city of London. When one travels to Italy Michelangelo and his work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is difficult to ignore; when traveling to Paris one can't seem to forget da Vinci's Mona Lisa and her ever curious grin. These two cities are immersed in artistic excellence with their art defining the city itself. And yet here I was in London, a city filled with culture and history and life, and I could not find one piece of art that truly symbolized London on an artistic basis for me. So, out of dedication and stubbornness I took to the streets to find London's quintessential piece of art. 

Victoria & Albert Museum

On this journey to find London's singular symbolic piece of art I gracefully stumbled into the Victoria and Albert Museum, more commonly known as the V&A to us "true Londoners." This museum was sure to house that perfect piece I was looking for. After hours of searching, I was at a loss. No "perfect-piece-I-associate-with-London" was found. Needless to say, I became a bit distraught.

One of the curators, probably noticing that I was a bit puzzled, came over to me. Somehow, she began to discuss the history behind the V&A. It was in this speech and not through a specific piece of art that I found my blog topic. 

The curator began her lesson with a little history behind the building. "The V&A is home to the world's largest collection of decorative arts and designs. The permanent collection totals over 4.5 million objects and is comprised of 145 galleries. The official opening of the building was in 1857 by Queen Victoria herself and was named after her and her husband Albert."

(A little history behind Victoria and Albert: After Victoria and Albert were married, Albert helped the Queen find a love of the arts and the two wanted to do their best at trying to preserve them. Through their dedication to the importance of art, buildings have been named for them, such as the famous opera house The Royal Albert Hall.)

After hearing the history behind the museum and the other artistic buildings that lent their name to the royal couple, I couldn't help but think that maybe instead of London having just one specific piece of art that symbolized London's achievements in the artistic world it was instead a royal couple and their dedication to the preservation of art that London could be proud of.