Rather than hang out and banter about nothing at the pub – I know, it’s fun sometimes – why not head for a good art show instead? London’s West End is buzzing with exciting pieces on display at the moment.

Check out the National Gallery’s Lates evening in Trafalgar Square, when access to the Lucien Freud exhibition costs a minimum donation of £1 instead of twenty-something pounds. It really is a spectacular exhibition in a spectacular setting.

Art in the West End – but fun too at 4 Cromwell Place

But the real revelation came this week in South Kensington. Here, 4 Cromwell Place has been refurbished into several gallery rooms. The Private view of shows by a handful of artists in different rooms was fun.

My favourite room was the show by rising star, Massinissa Selmani. His witty videos, cutouts and quirky mini-installations pulled in the punters. The Hermès and Chanel bags were out in force…

I always wondered… the arch in the middle of Hyde Park Corner, there’s a gallery on the 3rd and 4th floors of the iconic Wellington Arch – and a balcony. Who would have guessed? But the Vigo Gallery showed Erin Lawlor’s Invincible Summer paintings to a ‘full house’.

Wellington Arch and a private view of London

Organisers had kindly left the doors open so we could pop out onto the balcony and see the London skyline. In the centre of of the Hyde Park roundabout.

On to the Timothy Taylor gallery in Mayfair where guests rather outshone the pieces on the walls. A noisy, but mature, group somehow got the conversations going. Talk was of fashion – some had arrived to meet friends before dinner at nearby Annabel’s – so there was plenty of glamour on display. Of course, Thursday is a big night out in London.

Read also our post: How to shop for art at a Private View here.

But hopefully works by the late artist Anntoni Tapies, whose 100th birthday it is this year. His pieces in this exhibition are meant to express spiritual decay.