The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow spans two expansive floors, as well as a lower ground containing the main café, shops and a temporary exhibition space.
The main two floors are split in two, the red side is Expression and the blue side is Life. The content of the museum and galleries is split between these two different concepts. There are many varied and interesting areas. Expression includes the “Scottish Colourists”, “Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style” and “Dutch Art” for example, whilst Life includes “Scotland's Wildlife”, “Cultural Connections” and “Glasgow Stories” to name but a few.
The Centre Hall is overlooked by the magnificent Kelvingrove Organ, built by T.C. Lewis and Co Ltd in 1901. At 1pm each day this organ is played, with a gathering audience on each floor. The day I visited we were entertained by Paul Carroll playing a fantastic programme of crowd pleasers including James Bond, Billy Joel's Piano Man and Sweet Caroline - which had us all singing along at one part! I highly recommend the soup and sandwich combo from the cafe whilst you watch as well, most tasty and gives you a prime seat.
Another area I stayed a while was Scotland's first Object Cinema, which featured a 15 minute movie of the Rainforest whilst amongst various items from the area. It was a fully immersive experience, but without the unbearable heat I believe they enjoy, in the actual Rainforests.
There are many fascinating pieces throughout the various rooms, the taxidermied elephant and giraffe some of the most striking in appearance. As well as the cute animals there are various displays around the halls for children to interact with and even a Mini Museum for under 5s. Those of us a little older may take a moment to realise many of the displays are actually down at our feet, where the intended audience can find them readily. It certainly all looked great fun!
Each of the art works are well displayed, with appropriate lighting and interesting key information nicely presented next to them. I especially enjoyed “The Glasgow Boys” gallery, not previously realising that James Guthrie spent time in Brig O’Turk, not far from where I grew up.
I nearly did not go into the alcove of the “French Art” gallery to look at Giuseppe Baldan’s La Faruk Madonna. However that would have been a shame, it was totally inspiring to hear how he painted characters from his faith onto the back of food sacks so their church, such as it was in wartime, had decoration for them to pray beside. That level of dedication and faith is quite enviable, although their circumstances were not obviously.
The Kelvingrove is totally free to visit, although they encourage donations of £5 for the museum itself and for the organ fund. I spent a good few hours there, even though I have been several times before. I was enjoying the atmosphere so much I even sat in there to start drafting this piece, and I stepped out into the Kelvingrove Gardens feeling blissfully relaxed.
The park itself is a joy to walk through with dogs chasing sticks, kids enjoying the skate park and squirrels busily hunting for tasty nuggets. It gave me a sense of enormous wellbeing (to slightly misquote a well known song!)
Further information: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum and https://www.paulcarrollmusic.co.uk/
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Maria Robertson is an academic librarian by day and a concert reviewer by night, she also loves spending time with her family and they all enjoy visiting museums. Reviews published at: https://www.5d-blog.com/?s=maria+robertson