Lady Lever Art Gallery
Port Sunlight, Liverpool
***1/2
Good collection of quite traditional British paintings often with interesting or quirky features.  The Lady Lever Art Gallery includes paintings, sculptures and furniture purchased by Lord Lever, the philanthropist who also created the Port Sunlight workers village for his employees at the company now known as Unilever.  The gallery has always had free admission.
Seen by me:  2.5.04 (with Naomi)

Liechtenstein, Roy -  Hayward Gallery, London
****
Excellent comprehensive exhibitions of the pop artist most famous for his colourful paintings of blown-up cartons in the 60s.  Interestingly, the exhibition shows how Liechtenstein's art developed beyond this early phase - his late, large-scale Chinese landscapes are particularly impressive.  An excellent, quite thought provoking retrospective.
Seen by me:  15.5.04 (with Naomi and Amy)

Louvre, Paris
***1/2
I went to The Louvre a couple of times in the 80s and have never been very keen on it.  With its thousands of visitors rushing through corridors to see a handful of world famous works, bad signposting and snobbish stuffiness, it wasn’t my idea of a good artistic experience.  Just as importantly, the collection doesn’t derive from the eras of art which I’m particularly interested in.  Fast forward to 2005 and the hordes of visitors queuing for a glimpse of the Mona Lisa are still there but the signposting is better and the recent, once controversial glass pyramid entrance is a revelation.  The extensive entrance lobby provides an excellent focal point of orientation to the massive collection and is modern yet dignified in keeping with the museum.  It also provides a vital supply of natural light to an old, dark building.  I still didn’t like the art much but it was good to see that The Louvre has become much more user friendly.  The entrance area was almost worth the admission fee alone…
Visited:  12.2.05 (with Naomi and Amy)