Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

What do you do on a wet and windy afternoon in Edinburgh, when the rain is clattering down and the streets disappearing under torrents of water? Well, you could visit a museum or a gallery ....... the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, maybe. Shared between two buildings, Modern One is a rather imposing neo-classical building which at one time was the John Watson's School, an institute for fatherless children. It is in this magnificent building that works from the Gallery's own collection, plus those loaned to the Gallery, are exhibited. Here you can see French and Russian art from the early days of the 20th century along with cubist paintings and superb examples of expressionist and modern British art. Highlights undoubtedly include paintings by Picasso and Matisse. And it also has a truly outstanding collection of international post-war work featuring art by Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Lucien Freud, more recent works including those by Damien Hurst, Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley. Finally, this Gallery holds the most important and extensive collection of modern Scottish art. It is here that you can see "Death to Death and Other Small Tales", not suitable for the younger visitor, which explores how artists have engaged with the human form, and features nudity and imagery of an explicit nature.
Modern Two, another wonderful building probably even more so when the sun makes an appearance, was originally built as the Dean Orphan Hospital. This section of the Gallery is home to an ever-changing programme of world-class exhibitions and displays drawn from their permanent collection. One exhibit that never changes is a fascinating recreation of Eduard Paolozzi's studio. Renowned as one of the most versatile of Britain's post-war sculptors, he frequently changed the styles and media in which he worked.
His interests were varied and he drew inspiration from almost every aspect of the world around him, as this recreation clearly demonstrates. It reflects the way in which he worked - desks for reading and working with paper, a large central table for modelling and working with plaster casts, shelves packed full of reference books, and a bunk for resting. This was one of my favourite parts of the Gallery, along with Paolozzi's 7.3 metre tall sculpture, Vulcan, which dominates the cafe. Commissioned in 1999 Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and blacksmith to the gods, stretches from the ground floor to the ceiling of the first floor, swinging his hammer and marching across the Great Hall. Half-man, half-machine, he is a monument to the modern age, a sculpture of epic proportions, and a favourite with both big kids and small kids alike. Modern Two also houses the Gallery's substantial library and archive along with constantly changing displays in the Gabrielle Keller library.
Despite the relentless rain, I made the somewhat ridiculous decision to squelch my way around the extensive parkland that surrounds both Galleries. Here you can discover works by such eminent sculptors as Henry Moore, Hamilton Finlay, Rachel Whiteread and Richard Long. The lawn stretching out in front of Modern One was re-landscaped as recently as 2002. Designed by one Charles Jencks, this dramatic landform comprises a stepped, serpentine mound cleverly reflected in three crescent-shaped pools of water.
Yes ...... more water!

Now, I am definitely no connoisseur of modern art. I found the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art bizarre, baffling, weird, mind-blowing, frequently exercising my powers of observation and understanding. Piss flowers, lopsided ladies, male genitalia of various shapes and sizes - what's this all about, what kind of a mind creates such works of art, for works of art they are! I stood back, looking at some of the exhibits, and thought "I could do that." But could I? Would my distorted portraits, my alien-influened sculptures, look as good? Would they make me a living? Definitely not. However, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is a must-see venue regardless of whether modern and contemporary art is your cup of tea or not. In fact you may well find your cup of tea among the exhibits in years to come. But all joking apart, I would encourage you to call in. We all have different tastes, all appreciate different things. After all, how boring and mundane would this world be if we all loved the same things .........