Nobody likes traipsing around indoor museums at the age of 12. Unless we're talking giant dinosaurs or machinery that moves at the push of a button. But displays of pottery, sculpture and paintings? Er, no thanks! Can we not just hit the gift shop, like, now? Yes, it's fair to say I didn't fully appreciate the charms of Glasgow's famed Burrell Collection on my first visit (although finding massive conkers in the surrounding parkland offered some consolation). The vast and eclectic array of objects had been gifted to the City of Glasgow in 1944 by wealthy shipping magnate and native son Sir William Burrell. He acquired over 8000 artworks during his lifetime and several of his paintings were already hanging in the Kelvingrove Museum when he made his major philanthropic gesture. Burrell simply wanted people to gain pleasure from art and to improve their lives through an appreciation of beauty. He had served long spells as a councillor in Glasgow and Berwickshire and was also a trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Finding a suitable home for the collection proved problematic. Burrell was 82 when he made the public donation, which included £450,00 in cash. When he died 14 years later in 1958, the thousands of pieces were still sitting in storage. It wasn't until Glasgow Corporation acquired Pollok House and the 360-acre surrounding parkland in 1967, that plans to construct a permanent museum were finally rubber stamped. The quiet rural setting was deemed within the spirit of Sir William’s ambitions and the hunt for a suitable architect began. Spiralling costs cause considerable delays and the attraction was formally opened by the Queen in 1983. The building follows an L-shaped plan and is tailored to display the objects, with larger pieces such as Romanesque doorways built into the structure. Views extend into the park over formal grassed areas to the south and into adjacent woodland to the north. More than a million people visited in the first year and the museum quickly established itself as one of Glasgow's best loved public spaces. A six-year refurbishment commenced in 2016 and I saw BBC footage from the reopening ceremony on Reporting Scotland. I made up my mind there and then to pay a return visit during which I could appreciate the collection through a more mature pair of eyes. My mum readily agreed to accompany me. Reckoning the first few weeks after the relaunch would be rather busy, we waited a couple of months then set out for Glasgow on a Sunday morning. Pollok Park is easily accessible from the M77 and the journey was painless. I had actually explored the parkland and viewed Pollok House the previous weekend as part of a city walk, but had left the Burrell Collection alone. It's not the sort of place you just drop into for a quick look around. Several hours is required to do the place justice. I was more than happy to pay the parking fee of £2.50, as it stated on the website that all monies raised would be ringfenced for the benefit of the park. General admission is free and it's good to give something back. We strolled into the museum and I was immediately struck by the generous amount of light flooding into the main gallery via the tall windows looking out on to the woods.
A lot of people were milling around but there was no real congestion and you didn't have to crane your neck to look at the numerous display cases. The primary gallery ran the length of the building's outer wall and other rooms led off into the interior. My favourite items in the long gallery were the bust of Mary Magdalene (Florence, circa 1500) and carving of a group of monks, from Germany. The room I enjoyed the most featured several recreations of life within Burrell's home - Hutton Castle in Berwickshire. He moved there with wife Lady Constance and daughter Marion in 1927 (having bought the place 11 years earlier) and it was the family base for four decades. The vast collection filled every nook and cranny. Every room was sumptuously furnished, including the servants quarters. Burrell meticulously logged every purchase and extracts from his ledgers were on display, showing dates, names, places and price paid. Some objects were bought for as little as £25, although that was probably a couple of months wages for a working person back then. I wonder if he drew up a plan of where everything was displayed or if it was all kept in memory? I also liked the fact the castle staff were mentioned frequently in the gallery and a real insight to their duties and wider lives was conveyed. William Burrell seems to have been firm but fair with the workers and would gladly reward exceptional performance. It sounds like he basically expected folk to be good at their jobs, probably because he had made such a success of his career. There was a fine portrait of Marion Burrell, who was a young woman during the roaring 20s. This decade was big on fashion, film and music but didn't usher in great social change - at least not for females. Relations broke down between Marion and her parents but it wasn't until William Burrell's death that unmarried Marion was finally able to become a lady of independent financial means - at the age of 58! Under Scots law, she was entitled to one third of the estate, despite her father's attempt to cut her out of the will. Must have been a real feud!
Burrell was a keen collector of paintings and owned works by the likes of Degas, Cézanne and Rodin. He was on first-name terms with leading Scottish artists of the day and fully involved himself in the Glasgow scene. My mum has a decent knowledge of art history and she enjoyed this area of the collection immensely. I couldn't help but notice the museum had gone to extra lengths to tick the LGBTQ+ boxes. Saint Sebastian was described as a gay icon and the arrows that prick his body symbolise the slurs that minority groups still have to contend with today. After covering all of the ground level, we headed down to the lower-floor restaurant for lunch. Again, the room was well lit with excellent views across Pollok Park. We found a small table and ordered haggis bites plus the soup of the day, with cloudy lemonade to drink. The system in place was to order at the counter and the waiting staff would bring your food to the table. Mum deals mainly in cash and the young woman at the till looked slightly surprised when I proffered hard currency. Sign of the ever-changing times. The recent upgrade of the museum increased total gallery space by a third. Balconies have been created in parts of the building that were previous inaccessible. We completed our tour by taking the elevator to explore these further exhibits - which focussed primarily on textiles. I urge everyone to organise a trip to the Burrell. In fact, make an entire day of it in Pollok Park.
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