Changing times

Exciting changes are a-foot at Tate Britain at the moment.

Until 2013, the gallery is undergoing a restoration and expansion project to the south-west corner of the Millbank building, expanding the education space and improving the circulation of visitors to the front of the building. Currently un-seen parts of the fabulous building will also be opened up, bringing back some of its original 1890s glory. The small display of plans and photographic projections by the dome gives a real feel for how the space will work. I am particularly excited to see the effect of the new spiral staircase beneath the dome which will join the ground and basement floors. Likewise the new members room. Museums can gain a huge amount from their members/friends, and Tate Britain's members room has been sadly in need of a re-think (incidentally, this is an area on which the British Museum also falls down).

While all this renovation work is underway, the galleries are also changing. The Turner collection has been given a re-think, setting his works in their 'Romantic' context. The exhibition is refreshing, emphasising the romantic painters as individuals responding to similar influences, rather than as a defined, coherent group, hence 'Romantics' rather than 'The Romantics.' The first room introduces some themes common to these painters - landscape, poetry etc - placing Turner within each context. The next room then stages an 'imaginary exhibition' of paintings that 'Romantics' would have seen on display in contemporary London. Further rooms then place Turner's early and late work in this context, and look at how his innovations were picked up by artists like Constable.

This is a stimulating re-think of what have become slightly tired galleries, and it is good to see Tate Britain re-thinking its displays along with its buildings. The only sad note, for me, is that this does not seem to have extended to the historic British paintings. These collections have been condensed into one room, to make way for a large display of twentieth-century works. Surely this is what Tate Modern is for?