Courtauld Gallery

The Courtauld Gallery collection is cared for by The Courtauld Institute of Art, a research-led, independent College of the University of London that specializes in art history, curating and conservation. The collection began in 1932 with gifts from the institute’s founders: the industrialist and art collector Samuel Courtauld, the diplomat and collector Lord Lee of Fareham and the art historian Sir Robert Witt. As such, the core of the collection is a combination of an artist’s eye, an investor’s savviness and a scholar’s rigor.

Since 1989 the gallery has been housed in the neoclassical 18th-century building of Somerset House. In 2019 it underwent a major £57 million renovation, reopening in 2021. Today, the collection includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The museum is particularly rich in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, including Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” (1882) and Van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” (1889). It also boasts the most significant collection of works by Cézanne in the UK, which are displayed in the restored LVMH Great Room—London’s oldest purpose-built exhibition space. Other highlights include Botticelli’s large-scale “The Trinity with Saints Mary Magdalen and John the Baptist” (around 1491–94) and a celebrated collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens. A special space is reserved for The Courtauld’s significant collection of works by the Bloomsbury Group to showcase their designs for furniture, ceramics and textiles alongside paintings and drawings by important Bloomsbury artists, including Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.