While I was in London, I visited the National Gallery, which is a free art museum in London. We spent our second day exploring London, visiting its museums, and this was our second of the day. When we arrived at the museum, I was surprised by how busy it was outside. There were different street performers and protesters in the area. We saw a violin player, and she was very good, and had drawn a fairly large crowd. Two people were dressed in solid gold and silver and were acting as statues. We saw protests for Iran and for LGBTQ+ rights and beliefs. There was also a fountain outside that I did my poetry reading by, as it was one of the calmer sections of the outside area of the museum. I found this outside area to be just as interesting as the art museum, because I was able to see people interacting in a neutral environment. There were no expectations for anyone in this area, which I think allowed for very open interactions.
At our designated time, we started making our way into the museum. When we walked in, we had to go through a security checkpoint, which I understand, but it was different from art museums that I had gone to in the past. The art museum by my house has metal detectors when you walk in the doors, but this was a much more structured security protocol. When we made it through security, we started going through the gallery, which was smaller than I was expecting, especially since the name of the gallery is "The National Gallery." We made it through this gallery in about an hour, I think, but it was a nice break where we could just wander around and look at art without worrying about the outside world. I have attached images of some of my favorite art pieces from inside the museum. I found myself especially drawn to the crab painting. I'm not sure why, I just found myself intrigued by it.
Heaney's poem "The Forge" compares the work of a blacksmith to that of a poet. This is an interesting idea because of the obvious differences between the two. I think that he is trying to say that being able to turn something seemingly meaningless into something beautiful and artistic is an art form in itself. I think that this can be applied to the paintings that I saw in this museum. They started as just simple canvas and paint, but with time and dedication they were turned into something beautiful that people can appreciate for years to come.
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