In the Frame: Adjoa Andoh shares her favourite art and artists
The Bridgerton star tells us why she loves museums and how she plans to make the most of her National Art Pass.
“That’s a hot date – going to a gallery!”
Actor Adjoa Andoh visits the British Museum to answer five questions about art and what it means to her in our brand new video series, In the Frame.
Join Adjoa as she shares the ways she likes to explore museums, who she likes to go with and which artists she wishes more museums would show.
Plus, stay tuned for the next video coming soon, where Adjoa explores this iconic London landmark and explains why she loves its combination of ancient and modern.
Let Adjoa inspire your next visit with your National Art Pass – and if you’re looking for even more ideas, search for museums, galleries and exhibitions near you and use the filters to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Adjoa Andoh shares her favourite art and artists
In the Frame with Adjoa Andoh
Art Fund: Do you remember the first time you visited a museum or gallery?
Adjoa Andoh: D'you know, I cannot remember the first time I visited a museum or gallery. It's terrible. My brain's gone.
But I do remember my eldest, she's, you know, nearly 40, but she was about 7, I think. And there was some huge Impressionist exhibition at the Royal Academy. And Jesse loved this exhibition.
She went with me, she went with her dad. She must have gone three or four times. And there's something about the vibrancy of the colours. She would take a notebook and a pencil and she would go around and she would draw bits of her favourite ones.
Nobody had told her that she couldn't like it, that it was 'art', you know, it was just pictures for her. And she liked the pictures, and she'd visited them enough to become familiar with them and to be excited by them. And every kid should have that.
Is there a piece of art that inspires you?
I used to have to do endless piano practice, as many children did, and still do. Above the piano was a reproduction, obviously, of Vermeer's The Music Lesson. And there is a harpsichord. It has all of Vermeer's fabulous light. And there is a mirror, slightly at an angle so you can't see into it. But I used to spend hours playing the piano, not playing it, looking at this painting and then trying to lean. And I thought if I leant in hard enough, I'd be able to see my face in the mirror.
And I loved this, I've still got the old reproduction, but I went to a reception at Buckingham Palace and walked in and – boom – there was the original. And it made me cry because I'd been looking at it all through my childhood. And there was the actual beautiful object.
Do you prefer to go to galleries alone or with someone?
I used to go to lots of exhibitions with the kids, which was also about herding cats, as well as trying to look at exhibits. I really like going on my own or with my husband. That's a hot date, going to a gallery or a museum.
But I am that really annoying person. I have to read all the information, about everything I'm looking at. So it's a slow hot date if you go to a museum or a gallery with me.
So it's quite nice going on your own, because then you don't feel like somebody's going, 'I'm losing the will to live here. Can we please move to the next room?' But yeah, I love going to galleries and museums.
Which artists would you like more museums to show?
Archibald J Motley. His colours are so fabulous and vivid and alive.
He was in Paris in the 20s. So you get these fantastic, vivid, outside a club, in a club, street scene, you know, rainy night waiting for a cab... It's really arresting, very touching. And the only British artist I can think of who he reminds me of is Edward Burra, who is fabulous as well, a South Coast artist, spent a lot of time in New York. His work's beautiful.
And then Robert Tavener, he did a lot of lino cuts. I love lino cuts. And he worked a lot with the fishermen, the coastal life of Sussex and the agricultural life of Sussex. So you won't find any more beautiful paintings than Robert Tavener.
So I'd like to see more of them, please.
I mean, Sonia Boyce, who's now super Sonia Boyce. But I've known Sonia in Brixton since the 80s, and I'm so thrilled that she's getting all the flowers now for her beautiful work.
So, yeah, all of them, please.
How will you make the most of your National Art Pass?
So my National Art Pass. What I like about this is it's part of a structure, when you buy a National Art Pass, that also means you're giving back into the Art Fund charity, which is expanding access to the arts for everybody.
I'm a big believer in art is for the people. Museums, galleries, historic houses, old buildings in general, we should all have access to them because it's interesting. It's beautiful. You might find something that just takes your fancy. Because art and galleries and museums, it's just people. It's just people's lives at different moments in history. And I think basically we're all the same, but now we have plumbing and penicillin. So I like going to museums because I like looking at people's lives.
It's a way to just spend a bit of time with yourself. Like my daughter running around the Impressionists and not kind of going, 'ooh, it's art', it's just a nice picture. Yes, it is just a nice picture. And that's fantastic. And everybody should have access to that.
So, I will be using [my National Art Pass] for my own joy. I think it's a way for people to be still and peaceful, be away from their flickery screens, their stressy lives. It's a place where we can all come together, but we can all be individuals at the same time. And I think everyone should have access to art. So I'm a big fan.
The more you see, the more we do.
The National Art Pass lets you enjoy free entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, while raising money to support them.