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Monet and London at The Cortauld
A friend and I spent a few hours at The Cortauld to see the Monet and London. Views of the Thames exhibition. While I’ve explored various parts of Somerset House before, I realized this was my first time stepping into The Courtauld itself. What a gem of a building! A couple of the rooms had stunning ceilings that I found just as captivating as the art on display.
The Monet exhibition was fascinating. Some of the pieces were familiar, though I’d never seen them in person, while others were entirely new to me. What stood out was the repetition of three main scenes—Waterloo Bridge, Charing Cross Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament—across the 21 paintings. Despite the similar subjects, each one was distinct, capturing different qualities of light and atmospheric conditions. Titles like ‘Waterloo Bridge, Overcast Weather’, ‘Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Sunlight in the Fog’, and ‘London. The Houses of Parliament. Shaft of Sunlight in the Fog’ hinted at the subtle but striking variations.
We took a moment to sit in the center of the room, letting the artworks speak for themselves around the bustle of visitors. From a distance, the paintings had a surprising texture and depth that became even more engaging. It was a truly enjoyable exhibition in a gallery that I’ll definitely be returning to.
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The Artist’s Garden
Today, while walking from Blackfriars to Somerset House for a visit to The Courtauld, we stumbled upon something unexpected near Temple tube station. What first caught our eye as a sculptural display turned out to be The Artist’s Garden.
It was a perfect day to be outside, soaking up both the sunshine and the art. The collection featured some wonderful pieces, but I was especially enchanted by a massive wind chime installation.
Even as we moved on, heading away from the area, the charming sound of the chimes lingered, carrying a bit of the garden’s serenity with us.
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Farewell Omnivore
Back in April, I switched my regular reading over to Omnivore, bringing my RSS feeds, newsletters, and to-read list into one convenient place. It worked beautifully—until last month, when Omnivore announced it was shutting down.
Without a one-size-fits-all replacement, I’ve split my setup into two apps: NetNewsWire for RSS and newsletters, and GoodLinks for managing my to-read list.
Few apps handle newsletters as feeds, but Kill The Newsletter has been a game-changer, converting most into RSS feeds. It doesn’t work with Substack, though, so I’ve effectively stopped reading anything on there. To handle longer emails, I’ve also set up a special feed to forward them into NetNewsWire for easier reading.
After the initial disappointment about losing Omnivore, I’ve ended up with a perfectly workable solution. GoodLinks even did a pretty decent job of importing my historic list of articles from Omnivore, Pocket, and Instapaper, meaning I’ve finally got all those articles in one place.
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