BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

You have less than one week left to find out what goes on behind closed doors in Birmingham.

Before you get too excited by voyeuristic visions, I should point out that I'm referring to a cracking little exhibition at the Barber Institute which showcases the incredible diversity of art works in our city's private collections. Behind Closed Doors has gathered together nearly 40 paintings, watercolours, prints and drawings by internationally-renowned artists including Picasso, Hockney, Degas, Rossetti and Turner which usually reside in domestic art collections, and it's well worth the trip. I'd like to have seen a few more contemporary pieces in the mix, like this William Gear, but perhaps that's just me being picky.

The foresight shown by some of the collectors is quite incredible with stories of people buying works from emerging artists with price tags of many times their weekly salaries because the art moved them in some primeval way.

There were a couple of items which I'd cheerfully have taken home with me, including this one by George Clausen.

It also got me thinking about art (or rather often the lack of) in our offices and homes, something I'll return to in a future blog.

In the meantime, which famous works of art could you live with, should they be available to us mere mortals?