• The Banqueting House in Whitehall has reopened following a major project upgrading the building facilities with a new display on the history of the lost Palace of Whitehall. Visitors to the building will learn about the lost palace – of which the Banqueting House is one of the last surviving parts – and see the house’s magnificent ceiling painted by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. Included is the chance to recline underneath the ceiling on cushioned benches and in bean bags and access specially created digital content to enrich your experience. This weekend BBC Radio presenter Georgia Martin and sound engineer Rob Winter will bring their Classical DJ project to the house, featuring a soundtrack inspired by the drama of the Stuart court and the Rubens ceiling. Admission charge applies. Runs until 20th September. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk.
• Catch a glimpse of the arts scenes of Barcelona, Berlin and Paris at the beginning of the 20th century via three new loans on show at The National Gallery. Joining a collection of works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and George Bellows in the gallery’s Room 45 is American artist Marsden Hartley’s abstract work – Painting No 50 (1914–15), as well as Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Germaine (1902) – the only Blue Period work by Picasso currently on display in a London museum. Meanwhile, Monet’s Waterlilies (1905) completes a group of four of the artist’s ‘Water-Lily’ works on display in Room 46. Admission is free. For more, see nationalgallery.org.uk.
• The 40th anniversary of Freud Museum London is being marked with a new display. Opening next Wednesday, the display features items from Sigmund Freud’s collection of antiquities as well as family treasures. Runs from next Wednesday until 14th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.freud.org.uk/
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