Walking around a museum

Chalking up the miles, one Monet at a time

'Tippoo's Tiger’ on display at the V&A museum in London

Happy new year!

If you’re new here – hello and welcome. I’m Sarah, and I’m a writer and walker. I use walking to boost my physical and mental health, and inspire my creativity and writing. Then in each edition of The Writer’s Walk, I share my walks and pair them with simple writing prompts. Each one has a theme and the idea is to use that theme to help you notice things when you’re walking and to spark your imagination. You don’t need to be a mountain hiker or a novelist to join in – my hope is that as many people as possible can find something of interest here.

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If you’re in the northern hemisphere, like me, you might find yourself wintering right now. A lot of mammals hibernate at this time of year and I think many of us humans would do the same given half a chance.

I’m not a fan of winter. I don’t like feeling cold. I don’t like being wet. And if I’m both at the same time then there’s a good chance that Sulky Sarah will make an appearance. I struggle to find the motivation to go outside in winter, let alone for a long walk. So if you’ve ever felt the same way, then read on because I’ve got you covered – literally – with this edition where we stay inside for our walk.

Tip: we’re going to combine the writing and walking this time, so read the whole post before you set off – and take a notebook and pencil with you.

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Walking

London’s V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design. It’s home to more than 2.8 million objects, books and archives, covering architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.

The buildings span 12 acres of land, are over a third of a mile in circumference, and include 7 miles of galleries.

7 Miles. Now that’s a fair trek by any standard. So when I discovered that the museum has self-guided walking trails, I had to check it out.

Each trail has a theme, covering things like architectural wonders, African fashion and refugee stories. I decided to follow the collection highlights trail, which led me to objects like ‘Tippoo’s Tiger’ in the photo at the top of this post. It was made for Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore in South India from 1782 to 1799. You can’t see from the photo, but there’s an organ hidden inside the tiger's body and when the handle is turned, the man's arm lifts up and down and the organ makes noises intended to imitate his dying moans.

Then there’s this reproduction of a fig leaf, which was made to cover up the naughty bits on the cast of Michaelangelo’s David. Apparently, the original leaf was made after Queen Victoria was shocked by the cast’s nudity. Imagine the stories that sad-looking fig leaf could tell.

If your only job was to hide someone’s naughty bits, you might look sad, too

My wander eventually led me to this intriguing oil painting called Scene in a Bedchamber, painted by an unknown artist. There’s so much going on there, isn’t there? I’m just as fascinated by what might be at the end of that forest path as I am by what might be going on behind the curtains.

Absolute scenes in a bedchamber

It even comes with its very own creative prompt in the description that goes with it:

Mischief is happening in this painting

So for your walk this time, I invite you to stay warm and dry while you rack up your step count, exploring a museum or gallery.

Many museums and galleries around the world have self-guided tours or trails, including The British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid. And lots of them have virtual tours, too, so if you can’t get out and about you can take a virtual walk instead. Search for ‘visitor trails’, ‘self-guided tours’, ‘audio tours’ and ‘virtual tours’ to see what’s out there. Or make your own trail by searching the museum or gallery’s site for its list of highlights then using their map to help you find them. Or you could just wander around and see what grabs your attention along the way.

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Writing

This time we’re going to try a bit of ekphrastic writing. Ekphrasis is a fancy and formal word to describe writing something in response to an object or image. The written responses are often poems or verse – but they don’t have to be. I think it can be really interesting to write spontaneously, noting down your instant reactions to the art or object you’re observing.

So as you’re taking your walk, if you see something that captivates you, stop and look at it for a while. Many museums and galleries have seats around to make that easier – the last time I visited the V&A I saw a woman sitting on a bench, making a pencil sketch of a statue. And in the Japanese gallery a group of school kids were also drawing various objects. So if you feel like drawing rather than writing then try that. The idea of these walks is to spark creativity and it doesn’t always have to come in the form of words.

As always, I hope you enjoy your walk. Please let me know how it goes by adding a comment – and sharing a snippet of your writing or a sketch. I love hearing people’s responses to these exercises.

Happy walking and writing until next time,

Sarah

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More from The Writer’s Walk

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