Arshile Gorky (Tate Modern) & Van Gogh (Royal Academy) exhibition visits

Arshile Gorky retrospective: well worth the entry fee (I got a concession as I'm a student - the till lady REALLY scrutinized my student ID card too!) but the ticket man at the entrance was a bit of a jobsworth though which was disappointing, all I wanted was the little mini tour guide that you usually get at these things but was told that I couldn't have one as I had only bought a concessionry ticket!..if I wanted one, I would have to pay and extra £1.50 - whats the point of a concessionry ticket then?!...somehow though I did end up with one, not sure if it was the look of disbelief/death I gave or the 'jobsworth' comment I made that might have been within earshot!! so, complimentry tour guide in hand, I walked around this amazing exhibition making my curation notes like a good little student! Found the drawings/studies for his paintings more interesting than the paintings themselves (but I've always 'struggled' with abstract/abstract expressionism...its a frustation thing...I look and think 'I could do that', but I know that I can't because I've tried! but I can still appreciate its formal qualities) but his portrait paintings, especially of him and his mum, where just amazing. Love 'em, love 'em, LOVE 'EM!! excellently curated exhibition, calming, light and spacious to appreciate the work both up close n personal and at a distance.
oh, if only the same could be said for the Van Gogh exhibition at the RA!! You know things are gonna be a bit 'busy' when the queue to buy tickets stretches WAYYYYY outside! Luckily we had pre booked college ones and were able to go straight in. However, it is sooo dark, so closely curated and SOOO flipping packed that out of the 8 (I think there are 8) rooms, I saw approximately 2 pieces close up and in detail in each room...which is not so good considering the sheer volume of work in each room. I did at least get to see some of the letters he wrote to Theo with the most amazing sketches on, which is what I wanted to see, and some works that I'd not seen before, but to be honest, I prefered seeing his work in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Generally it was far far Far too busy and crowded which would have irrated me far more than it did had I had to pay for the ticket.
Still, the exhibition catalogue is good and it was a lovely day out!