I was going to have a look at the much advertised exhibition of Constable’s ‘six-footers’ at Tate Britain today. The thing is that getting there and back only leaves me about 20 minutes to look around. I’m not sure I would pay a tenner to see the exhibition anyway but I certainly would not pay a tenner to fly round it in 20 minutes. So I looked at the Turners instead, as I missed them out last time.

I still find it hard to understand Turner. He is widely accepted as one of the best British artists, if not the best British artist, and is liked by those who generally favour more traditional, conservative paintings and yet a lot of his later work (after about 1840) is extremely adventurous. He was an impressionist before the impressionists came along, in fact some of his works were impressionist to the point of being totally abstract, and yet admired by people who scoff at modern abstract art. I find some of Turner’s work more modern than works done more than a hundred years after his death, and can’t imagine what reception they must have got at the time. There were a few where I felt that he had to be totally barking or hitting the laudanum.

I think we are spoilt with our free entry to museums and art galleries here – and lets not forget who is responsible for making a lot of them free entry again – to the point where we feel reluctant to pay out for the special exhibitions. I don’t think anything of paying to visit the Louvre or the Rijksmueum, but now expect to only have the voluntary donation box at London museums. Its very suitable for those of us who can only fit in lots of short visits rather than spending an entire day in one place.