Getting to Brighton Museum is easy, as it is tucked in just behind the Royal Pavilion, which is Brighton's premier attraction, and well signed from almost everywhere. The Pavilion's chinoiserie is unrelenting, and will have you either a) booking a trip to Beijing, or b) cancelling the trip already booked, depending on how it takes you. Orientalism apart, perhaps the most interesting thing in the Pavilion is Rex Whistler's caricature 'HRH The Prince Regent awakening the Spirit of Brighton', which was originally painted on the wall of his Brighton digs during the War. He was killed in Normandy soon after, having unwisely emerged from his tank: another wasted talent.    The Cairo-bus-depot architecture of the Museum is presumably intended to complement the Pavilion. Luckily the interior is more restrained. It was recently refurbished, and reopened in May 2002. Inevitably, refurbishment means that designers are let loose on the displays, and inevitably that means a lot more artful lighting and rather less of everything else. Brighton Museum has a sizeable permanent collection of paintings, but you would probably be well-advised not to expect to see too many of them. The collection can be reviewed on its website (thus saving on travel expenses) although not all the pictures have images and the ones that are there are small and of rather variable quality.    Another problem is that the Museum's main specialization is 20th-century art and design, which in practice means furniture. It's quite interesting furniture, some of it, but the gallery designers have decided to integrate it with a selection of pictures, rather like a Sotheby's preview, where they set out pictures and furniture for two forthcoming sales in the same gallery. However, Sotheby's let you walk round the furniture; Brighton Museum (understandably) does not, or not as much as you might like; so you may find the distance to a picture and the angle of view -- not to mention that artful lighting -- less than conducive to a full appreciation.    The Pavilion and the Museum are only a block from the seafront and, after you've seen them, you can go and gawp at the ruined West Pier. Shortly after our visit late in 2002 it suffered a further collapse: we don't believe there was any connection. Website Map

Works at Brighton by Laurens Alma Tadema Charles Gogin Arthur Hacker George Dunlop Leslie