Notes from the North

I loved having access to all the riches of the Louvre, the musée d’Orsay and the Pompidou while I lived in Paris and I willingly paid an annual subscription to them to be able to go any time I wanted. And I went a lot, quite often with a sketch pad and pencils too. Now I do something similar in Edinburgh, except that I don’t have to pay anything. Entrance to the permanent collections of the National Gallery (at the foot of the Mound behind the Royal Scottish Academy on Princes Street), the National Portrait Gallery (Queen Street) and the Gallery of Modern Art (Belford Road) is completely free. How often does the ordinary Edinburgh citizen take advantage of such unimpeded access to the wonderful art these places hold and how many are aware that quite soon there will be more for all of us to see as well? The project to enlarge the gallery on the Mound is well advanced and by the end of this year the main entrance on the Princes Street Gardens level will open up to new exhibition spaces a...