night at the museum
Tuesday evening and the curved vaults of the underground café are painted in bright purple light, the DJ blasting out some music and through the glass doors you can see an exhibition of ancient artefacts…
Last Tuesday was the Ashmolean Freshers Night. The museum swung open its great big double doors to students and a small group of us from St Peter’s College went down to see what was on offer at our university’s museum of art and archeology.
Upon entering we were handed our tickets for a free drink in the bar, then whisked away to a curator-led tour on Western art. In half an hour we saw the artistic development of Camille Pissaro, eyed up the £23,000,000 portrait of Fanny Claus by Manet and with 2 minutes to spare, cast a glance over the colourful works of W R Sickert.
After this whistle-stop tour of Impressionism we wandered through the grand rooms and down sweeping staircases to go get a drink in the café. Nothing like a cool can of Pellegrino lemonade.
The Ashmolean is a beautiful place both on the inside and the out. There’s so much to see that every time you go, despite the fact it’s a museum, you’ll come across something new. For those who don’t know, all the exhibitions at the Ashmolean are FREE for Oxford University students, and if you have the time, both the exhibition of Edward Lear illustrations and Ornamental textiles from Meiji Japan are well worth a visit. Ah, the wonders a Bod Card will get you.
arts.spc 