So, in over five years of living in Bristol I had never set foot into the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery until this weekend – and I’m so pleased that I did!
My husband and I visited on Sunday to see the exhibition of Leonarda da Vinci: A Life in Drawing which is running until 6th May to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. #Leonardo500 is a national celebration of the talented artist and Bristol is one of twelve shows currently taking place simultaneously across the UK. Each of the locations have twelve drawings on display, all of which have been taken from the Royal Collection which contains the world’s finest collection of da Vinci’s works.
I did not know much about da Vinci before going to the museum and was surprised to learn how multi-talented he was! The pieces featured are all technical preparatory drawings rather than any of the finished items but it was just so interesting to see how intelligent he was and how much of an interest he had not just in art and painting, but also in sculpture, architecture, music, anatomy, engineering, geology…and much, much more. The exhibition is on for another month or so and although it’s quite small, it is definitely worth a look before all of the drawings are moved to the The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace after the early May bank holiday.
And once we’d finished with Leonardo we had a wander around the rest of the museum which is huge and completely unexpected! There is so much to see and it was a fab way to spend a Sunday afternoon – Banksy’s Devolved Parliament and Paint Pot Angel, Japanese woodblock print exhibition, south west wildlife, archaeology displays, dinosaurs, rare wildlife (including Alfred the gorilla), a lovely balcony gallery, lots of art (French, European Masters, modern and contemporary to name a few) and there’s even a café where you can grab coffee and a bit of cake if you fancy too.
Bristol Art Museum, we had a great day and will definitely be back again!