AboutLondon Laura – October 2025
Did you get out to enjoy September? I did!
On Route to London
I like to make the most of the journey between west Wales and London, so I stopped at the National Museum of Cardiff and The Lightbox Gallery in Woking. Both stops were inspired by having the Art Fund membership. The Cardiff museum was free to visit, but the Art Fund card got me 10% off in the shop and cafe. And the Woking stop was half price with the Art Fund card.
I know I’ve been ‘spoiled’ by many years of ‘national museums’ in London, so I had a high bar for the National Museum Cardiff, and it didn’t meet it. It felt too ‘bitty’ and didn’t have enough to hold your attention. There is a Woolly Mammoth skeleton though as their prize exhibit in the entrance hall.
The Lightbox was a much better surprise, and I’d love to return. There’s an Andy Warhol exhibition on until 2 November, and that was worth seeing. The top floor had drawings I’d never seen, and the next floor down had some iconic large artworks. I spent too long chatting to gallery assistants and didn’t get to the Woking museum gallery, so I’ll see that next time.
Oh, and I also went to the Chippenham Museum to see Lady Gaga’s headgear on display. Free for all to visit, and the Art Fund card got me 10% off in the shop.
In London
I really enjoyed Blitz: the club that shaped the 80s at the Design Museum. (50% off exhibitions with Art Fund pass.) There’s a clever section where you pull back a curtain and get to enter the club. There’s the till at the entrance, the bar and DJ booth, plus a video wall of dancers and room for you to dance too. Yes, there could have been more, but I think they’ve done a good job on this exhibition.
I also went to the Leighton House Museum as it’s nearby in Kensington and is free for Art Fund pass members. Who can resist the delight of the Arab Hall?
I had a quick visit to the William Morris Gallery – free for all to visit, plus Art Fund members get 10% off in the shop and cafe – and I met friends at God’s Own Junkyard in Walthamstow.
Paris!
The trip continued to Paris for five nights to holiday with a friend from New York. The only thing we booked in advance with the John Singer Sargent exhibition at Musée d’Orsay.
After enjoying Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain last year, and Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits at Kenwood House earlier this year, it was lovely to get to know Sargent’s Paris years. I really enjoyed seeing the supportive relationships he had with fellow artists.
The rest of Musée d’Orsay wasn’t so great, as it was ridiculously crowded. It took over half an hour just to enter the building with a timed exhibition ticket. The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries were worse than Oxford Street in December. This is not the way to view art.
After I saw a Frenchman punch a young woman’s arm as he couldn’t get through, I decided it was time to leave.
I totally avoided The Louvre as I expected it to be too crowded to enjoy. But finding Musée d’Orsay still like this at 4pm was disappointing.
Art Fund Small London Museums
I promise I’m not on commission to sell Art Fund membership. I’ve just found the three-month trial to be such a good deal, I wanted to encourage you to get the most out of it too. These are some of the London museums you might want to see, as they would be free:
2 Willow Road – National Trust modernist property in Hampstead
Carlyle’s House – National Trust property in Chelsea
Apsley House – Duke of Wellington's house at Hyde Park Corner (English Heritage)
Chiswick House (English Heritage)
Eltham Palace (English Heritage)
Red House (National Trust)
You can also get 50% off British Museum exhibitions, and 50% off Churchill War Rooms entry (I’m sure they keep the price high to try to deter visitors, and yet there’s always a queue outside).
There are lots more offers, but these would keep you busy for a three-month trial membership. I wanted to inspire you, not overwhelm.
What’s On The Month?
The Spotlight on Music Hall display at The London Archives opens on 6 October, and they have a Magic Lantern Show at the end of the month.
Tate Britain has the largest retrospective of photographer Lee Miller ever staged. Open from 2 October, you can see 230 vintage and modern prints, including works on display for the first time.
The Housekeeper exhibition at the Freud Museum is inspired by Paula Fichtl, the longtime housekeeper of the Freud family. Paula was the live-in housekeeper in Vienna and then came to London with the family when they escaped on the eve of the War.
Gilbert & George: 21st Century Pictures is at the Hayward Gallery from 7 October, highlighting the evolution of their work over the past 25 years.
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 9 October. It will showcase Beaton at his most triumphant – from the Jazz Age and the Bright Young Things, to the high fashion brilliance of the Fifties and the glittering, Oscar-winning success of My Fair Lady.
We love our Art Fund card, they do a student one which at £10 is even better value