I first went to the national Gallery as a child, t...

I first went to the national Gallery as a child, then as a student in the late 1950s - 8d bus fare from Notting Hill Gate. My dissertation for my National Diploma in Design (fine arts) was based on the Early Flemish paintings in the Gallery. Now I live outside London. 2 hours away. I enter the Gallery with anticipation- of pleasure, of learning, of revisiting old friends. Very often my visit includes the Rembrandts- this is where,as a teenager, I learned about the beauty of old age, the Early Flemish paintings ,where the "Virgin before a firescreen" by a follower of Campin and Joachim Patenier's little "landscape", need checking up on. Titian's "Man with a blue sleeve" "Bacchus and Ariadne".( I knew that before it was cleaned, and the blue was such a wonderful surprise) Then Goya..How does he do it? As if he breathes the paint onto the canvas! Always Piero della Francesca's" Baptism of Christ" where I stand still for many minutes. (On one visit recently I could not go into this room because of staff shortages, and felt very deprived) After this self-indulgent memory trip, I look at paintings I have not spent time with. I allow instinct rather than any art historical knowledge to lead me. Such treasures! Nearly forgot the Wilton Diptych. I still get lost in the Gallery. And of course the special exhibitions - I will get to the Late Rembrandt somehow.