Jean Michel Basquiat in the Barbican London

A while ago, I heard that there was going to be a major Jean Michel Basquiat in The Barbican Centre and immediately started making plans to get to London to see it.

Dublin to London with Aer Lingus

We booked tickets online for the exhibition and then booked flights with Aer Lingus. It suited us best to fly from Dublin on an early morning flight and then return home later that day.

When we landed we went straight to the train station to take the Heathrow Express in to Paddington Station. From Paddington we walked to Baker Street stopping for breakfast on the way. After eating, we were back on our way and took the tube to The Barbican Centre.

Banksy in London

I had been telling my wife about two Banksy artworks that had appeared before the exhibition opened (see more here) and we decided to go for a look before we went in to "Boom for Real".

The Banksy's make quite a statement as you happen upon them on your way to The Barbican and it was pretty cool to get up close to his work.

As you can see the work has been covered in perspex in order to protect the painting. Probably a good idea given what has happened some of Banksy's other works.

We took the obligatory selfie and excitedly went on our way to the main show.

When we arrived to the exhibition entrance there some security measures in place. They weren't terribly onerous - no bags (even small handbags) were allowed in to the show and of course photography wasn't allowed.

So in we went and thoroughly immersed ourselves in Basquiat for the next 2 hours.

Basquiat: Boom for Real

It's hard to express how much I enjoyed this show. It was honestly one of the best exhibitions I have been to. The amount of Basquiat's work that had been gathered together in one space was phenomenal and the way it was displayed drew you in to his genius in a way that I did not expect. In some ways it was very overwhelming and nearly beyond my comprehension. 

All in all it was "Boom for Real"

London Architecture

Afterwards we walked a lot of London - we headed to the Gherkin, which I was very much impressed by, and then on to the Walkie Talkie Building (20 Fenchurch Street) and then found a Christmas market down near London Bridge.

Tate Modern

After a nice lunch with a great view of London Bridge, see above, we decided to make a quick dash to the Tate Modern taking in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the way.

Our visit to the Tate really was a quick one but we got to see lots of amazing art including lots of Rothko's (a whole room full!), Kandinsky, Pollock and Picasso. Incredible!

After a full and busy day of art it was time to make our way back to Heathrow airport where we had time for a drink at a bar before our 8pm flight home.

All in all a top day!