The Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House

Winter offers the wonderful opportunity to warm up in a museum or gallery. Since the Courtauld reopened at the end of last year after its three-year long renovation, there is a lot to discover, with new spaces created for temporary exhibitions and a dedicated area for works by the fashionable Bloomsbury Group. There is also a new installation of an eight-meter work, The Myth of Prometheus (1950) (photo far left), by Austrian Expressionist Oskar Kokoschka. Many iconic Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, including Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère(1882), Cézanne’s The Card Players (1839-1906), and Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889) can be viewed in the museum too. Of course, the extremely instagramable staircase (photo centre) may also be a reason enough for many to visit, but there is also a lovely gift shop tucked away downstairs that is great for gifts.