The Tate is extemely popular with Londoners as far as I can tell. It is always crowded with people who don’t seem to be tourists. But the National Gallery is never very crowded– save herds of school children and their teachers. Ultimately the Grand Tour is trying to seduce people into the Gallery– the excellent curators’ notes next to each painting on the street reminds people that they can see paintings for free everyday in the National Gallery.

I do like how intimate London is because you are always surrounded by people, often right up against them on trains and buses, and there’s no windshield separating you– though people build up their own shields and are quite guarded. I think these paintings are asking people to drop their guard and stop, if only momentarily, to engage in the unprotected reverie that art invites. It’s cool to see people pause and wonder at the prints.

You could never do this in LA, no one walks anywhere here! Maybe you could do it with billboards, but it would be too much of an ad.