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The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh,

Dutch, 1853–1890

Moody, swirly and colourful interpretation of a beautiful night sky full of stars. Van Gogh's powerful emotional language wrapped up in vivid blues and yellows depicts this picturesque French village, as seen uniquely by him in all its beauty and quiet upheaval.

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One of the favourite subjects revisited by Monet at various times to try and capture the natural beauty of the waterlilies, water reflections and bridge over it. The subject has been revisited on many occasions at different times of the year to explore the subtle variations the different light can offer. The painting has a meditative quality in its exploration of the relationship between between humans and nature, and the search for harmony and balance in our lives. A prime example of impressionistic work, which Monet could continue doing right just before his death, even as his vision was rapidly deterioration due to cataracts.

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In 1893 Monet bought a plot of land next to his house in Giverny. He had already planted a colourful flower garden, but now he wanted to create a water garden 'both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint'. He enlarged the existing pond, filling it with exotic new hybrid water lilies, and built a humpback bridge at one end, inspired by examples seen in Japanese prints. The water garden became the main obsession of Monet's later career, and the subject of some 250 paintings.

Here, the bridge spans the width of the canvas but is cut off at the edges so that it seems to float unanchored above the water, its shape reflected in a dark arc at the bottom of the picture. The perspective seems to shift; it is as though we are looking up at the bridge but down on the water lilies which float towards the distance. The vertical reflections of the trees provide a counterpoint to the horizontal clumps of the lily pads.

For Monet, gardens offered a refuge from the modern urban and industrial world, although he and his fellow garden enthusiasts benefited from modern advances in botanical science that were creating new hybrid flowers in a wide choice of shapes and colours that could be produced on an almost industrial scale. He made modest gardens in the homes he rented in Argenteuil and Vetheuil in the 1870s, but from 1883, when he moved to a rented house in Giverny, about 50 miles to the west of Paris, he had more scope to indulge his passion for plants. He became a dedicated gardener with an extensive botanical knowledge, and sought the opinions of leading horticulturalists. As Monet's career flourished his increasing wealth enabled him to fund what became a grand horticultural enterprise: by the 1890s he was employing as many as eight gardeners.

Monet began by refashioning the garden in front of the house, the so-called 'Clos Normand', replacing the existing kitchen garden and orchard with densely planted colourful flower beds that were filled with blooms throughout the seasons. He was able to buy the house in 1890, and three years later he purchased an adjacent plot of land next to the river Epte beyond the railway line at the edge of his property. The plot had a small pond with arrowhead and wild water lilies, which he wanted to turn into a water garden with a larger lily pond 'both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint'.

The idea may have occurred to him after he had seen the water garden at the 1899 Exposition Universelle in Paris created by the grower Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, who bred the first colourful hardy waterlilies. Monet began by requesting permission from the Prefect of the Eure to dig irrigation channels from the Ru - a branch of the Epte - to feed his pond, but the Giverny villagers objected, fearing it would contaminate the water and that the foreign plants would poison their cattle. Monet was furious, but three months later permission came through and he began to enlarge the existing pond, replacing the wild water lilies with Latour-Marliac hybrids available in yellows, pinks, whites and violets.

The pond was enlarged on further occasions - in 1901 and 1904 - tripling the size of the water garden. Together with the flower garden on the other side of the railway track it became the principal preoccupation of the last 26 years of Monet's life. While the Clos Normand garden was laid out along fairly traditional lines, harking back to the formal French gardens of seventeenth-century Europe, with a central alleyway and geometrically arranged beds, the water garden was more Eastern in inspiration. Its less regimented, more natural design and more muted colours created a quieter, meditative atmosphere. Monet erected a Japanese bridge over the western end of the pond that took its inspiration from the bridges in ukiyo-e Japanese prints. He was a keen collector of these prints and he owned a copy of Hiroshige's Wisteria at Kameido Tenjin Shrine (1856), one of the many prints that features a curved bridge. In a more general sense, the water garden reflected Monet's admiration for the Japanese appreciation of nature.

Monet had to wait for his water garden to mature before he could begin to paint it in earnest. As he later recalled: 'It took me some time to understand my water-lilies. It takes more than a day to get under your skin. And then all at once, I had the revelation - how wonderful my pond was - and reached for my palette. I've hardly had any other subject since that moment.' In total, Monet painted 250 canvases of his water garden. Around 200 of these represent water lilies floating on the surface of the water, while the remainder also show the Japanese bridge, the weeping willow trees and wisteria and the irises, agapanthus and day lilies on its banks. In all these pictures Monet was painting a subject that was already 'pictorial' - a landscape that had been carefully composed according to his personal aesthetic. The National Gallery has three further paintings of the water garden :Water-lilies, setting sun; Irises; and Water-lilies.

Monet painted three views of the Japanese bridge in 1895, not long after it had been constructed, but then took a break from the subject, only returning to it in 1899. By now the pool was overhung by vegetation and surrounded by plants, but to judge from contemporary photographs it was never as enclosed as Monet painted it, and he exaggerated the feeling of claustrophobia. In December 1900 he exhibited 12 paintings at Durand-Ruel's gallery in Paris, all of which showed more or less symmetrical views of the Japanese bridge.

In this painting, as in the others in the series, we are looking down onto the surface of the water, where the lily pads float into the distance, meeting the dense foliage on the far bank. Weeping willows are reflected in the pond and clumps of iris border its banks. The perspective seems to shift so that it is hard to find a single focal point; it is as though we are looking up at the bridge but down on the waterlilies. The picture, like the water itself, seems to oscillate between surface and depth. The mainly vertical reflections provide a counterpoint to the horizontal clumps of the lily pads. Different colours, applied with thick brushstrokes, are placed next to each other. This way of painting has more in common with Monet's early Impressionist works than his more recent paintings of mornings on the Seine, where he had used softer, more blended strokes to convey hazy atmospheric effects.

The Japanese bridge series marked a turning point in Monet's art. From now on his subjects were painted from an increasingly confined viewpoint, conveying the sense of an enclosed world. In later paintings of the pond, he would dispense with the banks and bridge altogether to focus solely on the water, the reflections and the water lilies. The culmination of Monet's water lily paintings were the Grandes Dėcorations, 22 enormous canvases each over two metres high and totalling more than 90 metres in length, which he completed months before his death and donated to the French state. These are now on permanent display in two oval rooms in the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris.

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Claude Monet, The Water-Lily Pond, 1899. Read about this painting, learn the key facts and zoom in to discover more.

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Influential Mexican artist whose work is of great significance. Deeply troubled by numerous adverse personal circumstances, she had a difficult life and her angst and poor mental health is often evident in her work. Without Hope seems to be a perfect summary of a series of unfortunate events and physical challenges leading to a desperate state, which is so relatable today. Uncompromising, daring and shocking, often exploring herself and her personal experiences, she makes for a very brave and pioneering woman.

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This painting was painted in the year of 1945 when Frida Kahlo was forced to be fed by the prescription of her doctor. In the back of this painting Frida Kahlo wrote down the following explanation:

Not the least hope remains to me...Everything move in time with what the belly contains. "

At that time Frida Kahlo was suffered from a lack of appetite due to her many surgeries and numerous illnesses. She became very thin and malnourished. Her doctor, Dr Eloesser, prescribed her complete bed rest and a forced fattening diet of puréed food every two hours.

In this painting, Frida Kahlo, depicts what she went through with the "forced feeding" diet. The disgusting food with animals and skulls was held by the wooden structure which used to hold her canvases for painting. It seems her arms are pinned underneath and cannot help with the situation. The background is a deserted Mexican landscape showing both the sun and the moon. The situation seems to be Without Hope.

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This painting was painted in the year of 1945 when Frida Kahlo was forced to be fed by the prescription of her doctor. In the back of this painting Frida Kahlo wrote down the following explanation: Not the least hope remains to me...Everything move in time with what the belly contains.

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Simone Leigh, Sentinel, 2022 Bronze sculpture

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Simone's sculpture refers to the carved ceremonial spoons of the southern African Zulu people. They represent feminine beauty and allude to women’s labour.

National Gallery, Washington.

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Your Tour of Black Artists at the National Gallery

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These 10 works by Black artists are on view in our galleries, so you can see them during your next visit.

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The first black artist to win the Turner Prize, part of the Young British Artist movement in the 1990s, and no stranger to controversy: if you've heard of Chris Ofili then you may be immediately thinking of elephant dung, the Virgin Mary and offending the ex-Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, before it was cool.

Tate

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This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

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No Woman, No Cry by Chris Ofili (b.1968), 1998, from Tate

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Immersive installations, that play with our perception of space and play on the theme or endless of endless reflections.

Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life is one of Kusama’s largest installations to date and was made for her 2012 retrospective at Tate Modern. It is shown alongside Chandelier of Grief, a room which creates the illusion of a boundless universe of rotating crystal chandeliers.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms is presented in The George Economou Gallery.

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How do I book a ticket for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms?

Tickets are now booking until 28 April 2024, when the exhibition closes.

How much do tickets cost?

Tickets are £10, and free for Members. £5 tickets are available for Tate Collective and children aged 12-18. Under 12s go free but they will need a ticket.

The National Art Pass discount does not apply for this exhibition.

Do Members or Tate Collective have to book a ticket?

Yes, all visitors will have to book a timed ticket to enter the exhibition due to the small scale and intimate experience inside the installations.

What happens if someone returns their ticket?

If people return their tickets because they can no longer visit, their tickets will automatically become bookable again on our website. People are most likely to cancel their tickets on the day, so check the website for returned tickets on the day of your visit.

When does the exhibition finish?

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms has been extended until 28 April 2024.

Is there a waiting list for tickets?

We don't have a waiting list, but you can check back on this exhibition page or ask at our ticket desk for returns.

How much time can I spend in each Infinity Mirror Room?

To ensure that as many people as possible can experience the exhibition you will have 2 minutes inside each installation.

Is the exhibition wheelchair accessible?

Yes. Both the Infinity Mirror Rooms have been adapted to enable wheelchair access and provide sufficient turning spaces.

Will there be any opportunities to book for those who are neurodivergent or need quiet hours?

Yes. Relaxed hours will be taking place monthly from October 2023, find more information here.

Can I take a buggy inside the installations?

Yes, you can.

Do children go free?

Under 12s go free, but they will still need a ticket.

What other art is available to visit?

Planning a visit to Tate Modern? Tickets are available for Philip Guston, Capturing the Moment and A World in Common. Browse more in our what's on listings.

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Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms | Tate Modern

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How do I book a ticket for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms? Tickets are now booking until 28 April 2024, when the exhibition closes. How much do tickets cost? Tickets are £10, and free for Members. £5 tickets are available for Tate Collective and children aged 12-18.

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Marxism will heal the sick, Frida Kahlo, 1954

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Marxism will heal the sick, Frida Kahlo, 1954

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One of the last paintings Frida Kahlo ever created was entitled ´Marxism will heal the sick` (1954).

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907, into an early 20th century global era of political upheaval, bloody revolutionary uprisings and world war. In turn, the artist´s native country did not escape such instability and in 1910 Mexico was plunged into revolution.

By the time Frida was twenty years old she had already joined the Mexican Communist Party and here her relationship with Diego Rivera, a painter of revolutionary murals and fellow member of the Party (later expelled), intensified. Kahlo was from a middle-class family and therefore benefitted from an education including a wide range of resources and reading. The artist's father also encouraged his daughter in gaining full advantage of an education only made possible by the recent admittance of girls to preparatory schools during the revolution.

Coutesy Fridakahlo.org

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Layne Rowe, Solace, Glass Sculpture, 2022

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Layne Rowe, Solace, Glass Sculpture, 2022

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‘SOLACE’ measures 3m high and represents freedom, fragility but with power, strength, and protection.

The symbolism of angel wings can be enjoyed by people of all faiths and of none. This piece has been inspired by previous projects to help bring awareness to the loss of loved ones during the pandemic, and now reflects on the casualties of Ukraine.

https://www.layneroweglass.co.uk/

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Layne Rowe, Solace, Glass Sculpture, 2022

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Layne Rowe, Solace, Glass Sculpture, 2022

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This sculpture demonstrates is a masterful example of glass making in grande scale. It is made up of over 100 glass ‘feathers’ each individually hot sculpted in clear glass with the introduction of fine white cane work creating realism to their light-flowing nature. The centres (rachis) are blown using opal white glass to create a hollow, so that each feather can be hung from the bones of the wings which are forged in iron by Ryan Harms. The precise design and amount of individual details is truly admirable.

https://www.layneroweglass.co.uk/

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World famous contemporary glass artist (glass blowing), with numerous exhibitions across the US and UK (Kew Garden, 2019). His impressive sculptural works and installations are striking for their vibrant colours and unique forms and light capture. Truly unique and eye catching in every setting.

CHIHULY GARDEN AND GLASS™ is a trademark of Dale Chihuly.

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Chihuly Garden and Glass is a museum in the Seattle Center showcasing the studio glass of Dale Chihuly.

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Brancusi worked on this theme for many years, always looking for the purest form, the "essence of things". This particular version is closely related to a marble version completed in 1931 and is thought to have been cast as early as 1932 and finished in 1940.

As was customary in Brancusi’s work, the brass is smoothed and polished to the point where the materiality of the sculpture is dissolved in its reflective luminosity.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice, 1976

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“Liberty Leading the People” is a masterpiece of art that captures the spirit and ideals of the French Revolution. Delacroix’s genius lies in his ability to create a painting that is both beautiful and deeply meaningful. The painting continues to inspire and empower people around the world, reminding us of the importance of liberty, equality, and democracy. Its message is as relevant today as it was over 180 years ago, and it will continue to inspire future generations to fight for their rights and freedom.

https://globalartmagazine.com/en/liberty-leading-the-people

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Bathers at Asnières, Georges Seurat, 1884

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Bathers at Asnières, Georges Seurat, 1884

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This was Seurat's first major composition, with which he intended to make an impression at the Salon in 1884. He depicts a leisure scene, where several men and boys relax on the banks of the Seine at Asnières and Courbevoie, an industrial suburb north-west of central Paris. They are captured in profile and seem to not engage with the viewer and be absorbed in his own thoughts. In the background there is a railway bridge that partly hides a parallel road bridge, as well as the chimneys of the gas plant and factories at Clichy, where some of the men may work.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/georges-seurat-bathers-at-asnieres

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The Clearing, Stainless Steel @ The Royal Academy of Arts.

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Clearing is a single line made up of several kilometres of square aluminium tubing without beginning or end. It's a "drawing in space" which loops and coils around the gallery, contained by the floor, walls and ceiling. Clearing is a work in which the viewer’s participation is essential to both the experience and the meaning. Moving in and around the loops of metal gives visitors a new way of engaging with and understanding the gallery space, and their own bodies within it.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/antony-gormley-10-works-to-know

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Bacchus and Ariadne - Titian - 1520-1523

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Bacchus and Ariadne, Titian, National Gallery London

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Bacchus and Ariadne, Titian, National Gallery London

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Bacchus and Ariadne is an oil painting by Titian. It is one of a cycle of paintings on mythological subjects produced for Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, for the Camerino d'Alabastro – a private room in his palazzo in Ferrara decorated with paintings based on classical texts. It was a common practice for the rich and power people during the Renaissance to commission painting celebrating Greek Mythology.

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Bacchus and Ariadne - Titian - Google Arts & Culture

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Bacchus, god of wine, emerges with his followers from the landscape to the right. Falling in love with Ariadne on sight, he leaps from his chariot, drawn b…

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The Birth of Venus is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s, using tempera. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown. The painting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus

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Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave

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The Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai, 1830-32

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The Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai, 1830-32

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Hokusai depicts a terrifying scene from an unfortunate turn of events in a very common daily activity in Japan. The fishermen have just gone out to sea, not realising that there is a great wave coming and their fate is sealed. The breathtaking composition of this woodblock print and its clever use of perspective of Japan's grandest mountain, which here appears to be a small triangular mould next to the huge wave, makes for a breathtaking composition. The artist became famous for his unique landscapes created using a palette of indigo and imported Prussian blue.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434

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Houston. Institute for the Fine Arts, Rice University. "Art Nouveau," March 1, 1976-June 30, 1976.

Art Institute of Chicago. "Art Nouveau," August 1, 1976-October 31, 1976.

Sarasota Springs. Skidmore College. "A Survey of Japanese Prints: Moronobu to Nensho," February 14, 1980-March 2, 1980.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Katsushika Hokusai," November 15, 1991-February 9, 1992.

Dallas Museum of Art. "Katsushika Hokusai," May 24, 1992-July 19, 1992.

Nagoya City Museum. "Ukiyo-e from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14, 1995-May 28, 1995.

Milan. Palazzo Reale. "Hokusai: Il Vecchio Pazzo per la Pittura," October 1, 1999-January 9, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sense of Place: Landscape in Japanese Art," May 8-September 8, 2002.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan I," March 1-September 21, 2003.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008-May 31, 2009.

Washington, DC. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Hokusai: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji," March 24, 2012-June 17, 2012.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met," February 14 - September 27, 2015.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870-2020," August 29, 2020-January 3, 2021.

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Katsushika Hokusai | Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) | Japan | Edo period (1615-1868) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Houston. Institute for the Fine Arts, Rice University. "Art Nouveau," March 1, 1976-June 30, 1976. Art Institute of Chicago. "Art Nouveau," August 1, 1976-October 31, 1976. Sarasota Springs. Skidmore College. "A Survey of Japanese Prints: Moronobu to Nensho," February 14, 1980-March 2, 1980. London. Royal Academy of Arts.

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Andy Goldsworthy is famous for producing art work of a transient nature. Using materials such as ice, the work has a very finite life from its inception. Though almost everything the artist does has a brief lifespan as a finished object, there are few that seem so precarious as his ice works, specifically the various ice arches that he laboured on throughout the 1980s. Goldsworthy likens his short-lived sculptures with natural life cycles. He is on record suggesting that ‘Movement, change, light, growth, and decay are the life-blood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work.’ There is no better summation of the ice sculpture than by Goldsworthy himself in this regard.

https://celluloidwickerman.com/2016/06/13/responses-andy-goldsworthys-ice-arch-1982

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Responses: Andy Goldsworthy’s Ice Arch (1982)

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Andy Goldsworthy’s work has a transience running through its core. Such quiet transience is perhaps best expressed in his use of ice within sculpture. Though almost everything the artist does has …

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Young aspiring dancers, hoping for fame and success. Degas is more interested in observing them after the performance in their natural, relaxed state or during training. Here the class is coming to an end – the pupils are exhausted and they are stretching and interacting with each other.
Degas closely observed the most spontaneous, natural, ordinary gestures, the pauses when concentration is relaxed and the body slumps after the exhausting effort of practising and the implacable rigour of the class.

https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/la-classe-de-danse-1151

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Degas regularly went to the Paris opera house, not only as a member of the audience, but as a visitor backstage and in the dance studio, where he introduced by a friend who played in the orchestra.

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Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, National Gallery London, 1879

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Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, National Gallery London, 1879

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Recently exhibited at the National Gallery, Miss La La is a wonderful artwork by Degas. He provides us with a great insight in the life of the Parisians and their fascination with circus artists and their admiration of their extraordinary abilities.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

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The Cirque Fernando was built in 1875 near the Place Pigalle in Paris, close to where Degas lived. He saw Miss La La perform there several times. Born Anna Albertine Olga Brown (1858-1945), she was a mixed-race circus performer famous for her feats of strength. Olga is especially known as the inventor of the 'Iron Jaw' act, where she holds herself up by clenching a leather mouthpiece between her teeth.

In the painting, she is seen during one of her famous Iron Jaw performances. She is suspended from the ceiling as she is hoisted up to the roof by a rope. In one of her other acts she even carried a firing cannon, while dangling upside down from a trapeze. Degas places us among the audience, looking up at the spectacle above.

Painting an acrobat allowed Degas to combine his interest in modern life with his fascination for complicated poses. He made several preparatory studies for Miss La La's portrait, paying particular attention to the complex construction of the roof, which covers most of the canvas. After it was finished, the painting was shown at the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1879.

Hanging from the ceiling by her teeth, is trapeze artist and aerialist Miss La La. She performed at the Cirque Fernando, which was built in 1875 near the Place Pigalle in Paris, not far from Degas's studio. Miss La La was born Anna Albertine Olga Brown (1858-1945) to an African-American father and a white mother, in Kupfermühle, Prussia (current Poland). She began performing at age nine and travelled with different companies and acts throughout Europe. From 1879, she began using her stage name Miss La La and became well-known for her famous 'Iron Jaw' act. The performance, in which she was lifted to the roof of the circus, hanging by her teeth, gained much admiration for her incredible feats of strength. Together with her circus-partner Theophila Szterker (1864-1888), professionally known as Kaira la Blanche, Miss La La performed as the acrobatic duo 'Olga and Kaira', holding up Kaira from a trapeze between her teeth.

In his only circus painting, Degas shows Miss La La in the middle of her signature Iron Jaw act. She is depicted while clenching a leather mouthpiece, which was made specifically for her act. The painting shows her hoisted up into the air by a pulley, extending her arms in opposite directions, as if mid-flight. Her purple-coloured leotard is decorated with golden adornments and a white fringe, which contrasts with her brown skin and tights. The upwards view of Miss La La conceals her face and expression, seemingly hiding her identity from the audience.

Degas made several preparatory studies for the painting, sketching Miss La La in different positions and outfits. His studies show a few adjustments to Miss La La's pose, experimenting with the placement of her limbs. Still, it was mainly the background with which Degas struggled most. He had trouble finding the correct way to depict the perspective of the high sealing, as well as the architectural lines of the arcades, windows and roof trusses. According to his friend, British artist Walter Sickert, Degas needed the help of an architecturally skilled draftsman to assist him with sketching the ceiling. Miss La La is placed in the upper left corner of the composition, so it is the structure of the roof itself - the paired windows, beams, girders and gild decoration - that mostly fills the painting. Her pose is clearly integrated within the structure: the lines of her arms and lower legs form a parallel with the diagonal lines of the angled green girders, just as her thighs echo the vertical supports.

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando differs from other 19th-century paintings of circuses. In most works, the composition is focused on either the circus ring or the audience. Degas's composition, however, is aimed upwards, towards the ceiling of the building. The post-impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, one of Degas's contemporaries, made numerous depictions of circuses, in which he almost exclusively focused on the circus ring. His compositions are often seen from above, as if looking down from one of the top seats. To emphasize the performances, Toulouse-Lautrec eliminated the audience in most of his works and left the bleachers empty. Georges Seurat, another post-impressionist, depicted various circus members in his work Les Cirque (1890-1), including a female performer on a white horse, some tumbling clowns and a neatly coiffed ringmaster.

In painting a highly foreshortened figure suspended in space and seen from below, Degas may have been seeking to emulate the expansive ceiling paintings by Italian Baroque and Rococo artists such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. Degas would have known these works from his early years in Italy in the 1860's and visiting again in 1873, a few years before he painted Miss La La. Our view of the skilled trapeze artist directly reproduces a viewpoint often used by Tiepolo, such as in his An Allegory with Venus and Time (ca. 1754-8), also found in the National Gallery collection. The upwards view of the goddess Venus and Time, mirrors the angle in which Miss La La is depicted. By ascending her to an orange-green ceilinged heaven, Degas compares Miss La La's godlike strength to the Venus in Tiepolo's allegory.

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Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando

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Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879. Read about this painting, learn the key facts and zoom in to discover more.

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Debbie Thomas – “Fanciful Fauxbots!”, 2024

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Debbie Thomas – “Fanciful Fauxbots!”, 2024

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As Debbie herself claims, she is addicted to junk! She collects it every chance she gets and swears to make something out of it. Her "Fauxbots", found object ‘robots’ that depict people or animals.  Her goal is to make each ‘bot’ have a charming and whimsical personality. Many people assume the ‘bots’ are welded together, but in fact, many cold connections are used —rivets, screws, wire, plumbing connectors, and a bit of epoxy. It’s a great way of bringing fun to people's lives, whilst only using materials which have ended up on landfill.

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Munch's The Scream is an icon of modern art, the Mona Lisa for our time. As Leonardo da Vinci evoked a Renaissance ideal of serenity and self-control, Munch defined how we see our own age - wracked with anxiety and uncertainty.

Essentially The Scream is autobiographical, an expressionistic construction based on Munch's actual experience of a scream piercing through nature while on a walk, after his two companions, seen in the background, had left him. Fitting the fact that the sound must have been heard at a time when his mind was in an abnormal state, Munch renders it in a style which if pushed to extremes can destroy human integrity.

https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp

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Slave Ship is a political picture meant to compel the viewer to join the campaign for the abolition of slavery. Painted in 1840, just 7 short years after England had abolished, not just the slave trade, but the owning of slaves, the work of the abolitionist movement was not done. While they had achieved their goals in England, they now looked beyond to the international community, seeking to end slavery abroad.

https://www.kellybagdanov.com/

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Turner prize winner 2003, multi-disciplinary, political, contemporary artist known for his ceramics, extravagant feminine dressing and colourful textiles to name but a few.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/grayson-perry-ra

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Perry studied at Braintree College of Further Education from 1978 to 1979 and graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1982. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003.

He works in a variety of mediums but is best known as a ceramicist. There is a dissonance between the conventional forms of his vessels and the depictions that adorn them. He uses imagery and text to chronicle social concerns, his own formative experiences and to tell the story of his alter ego, Claire. The tone of his narratives is psychologically complex and often caustic. Although he uses traditional methods to make his pots, he employs a range of techniques, such as embossing and photographic transfers, to create intricate, animated surfaces.

Profile
Royal Academician
Printmaker

Born: 1960 in Chelmsford, England, United Kingdom

Nationality: British

Elected RA: 15 March 2011

Gender: Male

Preferred media: Ceramics

Works by Grayson Perry in the RA Collection

2 results

Summer Exhibition 2018

In our 250th year, Grayson Perry RA took the helm to coordinate the world's longest running and largest open-submission show: the Summer Exhibition.

Famous as the world's largest open submission show, the Summer Exhibition delivers a panorama of art in all mediums, a remarkable mixture of emerging artists and household names, and more.

Recent solo exhibitions

2016 Paper Tiger Whisky Soap Theatre (Dada Nice), Villa Arson, Nice

2018 Grayson Perry, KIASMA, Helskinki; touring to Monnaie de Paris, Paris Grayson Perry: Making Meaning, The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, Florida The Vanity of Small Differences, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin

2017 The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!, Serpentine Gallery, London; touring to Arnolfini, Bristol Making Himself Claire: Grayson Perry's Dresses, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Grayson Perry: The Life of Julie Cope, Firstsite Gallery, Colchester

2016 Hold Your Beliefs Lightly, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; touring to ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus

2015 Provincial Punk, Turner Contemporary, Margate Small Differences, Pera Museum, Istanbul My Pretty Little Art Career, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

2014 Who Are You?, National Portrait Gallery, London Walthamstow Tapestry, Winchester Discovery Centre

Selected collections

Arts Council Collection, London Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Brighton & Hove Museums British Council Collection, London The British Library (Map Library), London British Museum, London Chelmsford Museum, Essex Crafts Council Collection, London Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Government Art Collection, London House of Commons Collection, London Leeds Museums and Galleries (City Art Gallery) Manchester City Galleries Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas The Museum of Modern Art, New York Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Tate, London Victoria & Albert Museum, London Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut

Awards

2017 Royal Television Society Programme Award (Best Presenter and Best Arts Programme) Evening Standard Contemporary Art Prize Grierson Award (Best Presenter)

2016 Political Studies Association Award RIBA Honorary Fellowship GQ Men / Writer of the Year Award

2015 Chancellor of the University of the Arts, London Trustee of the British Museum BAFTA (Best Specialist Factual)

2013 BAFTA (Best Specialist Factual) Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

2003 Turner Prize winner

Art Sales at the RA

The Island Of Bad Art

Winner of 2003's Turner Prize, Grayson Perry RA takes a swipe at the art establishment. His etching depicts an 'island of bad art' resembling Venice, home to the celebrated contemporary art biennale.

British-born Perry's etching presents the viewer with a 16th-century style map. And creates the same dissonance between conventional form and personal message the artist achieves in his best-known medium, ceramics. The print is available to buy through Art Sales at the RA.

Buy now

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Grayson Perry | Artist | Royal Academy of Arts

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Perry studied at Braintree College of Further Education from 1978 to 1979 and graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1982. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003. He works in a variety of mediums but is best known as a ceramicist. There is a dissonance between the conventional forms of his vessels and the depictions that adorn them.

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Reinventing Texture installation in Japan’s pavilion at the London Design Biennale explores texture and cities using digitally enhanced traditional Washi paper.

https://www.ribaj.com/culture/toshiki-hirano-reinventing-texture-london-design-biennale-papier-mache

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Toshiki Hirano’s papier-mâché ‘pavilion of friendship’ unites Tokyo and London

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Reinventing Texture installation in Japan’s pavilion at the London Design Biennale explores texture and cities using digitally enhanced traditional Washi paper. Plus six of the best remaining installations

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Leonard da Vince, The Vitruvian Man, 1490

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Leonard da Vince, The Vitruvian Man, 1490

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The Vitruvian Man is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490. Inspired by the writings of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in both a circle and square. Wikipedia

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Deborah is a glass artist who has developed her own way of making her work stand out. With a background in jewellery, she incorporates thin layers of 24ct gold into her cast glass, giving it an element of surprise and an extra layer of light and reflection from the precious metal. She exhibits internationally and is well respected amongst the glass community for her unique technique and striking work.

deborahtimperley.co.uk

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Italian born, world-wide famous contemporary artist, works primarily in large scale sculptures (bronze, marble, etc.). He would like to make the world a better place and often talks about love and also the power and miracle that is nature.

"We humans think of ourselves as supreme beings in absolute control of our destiny and our surroundings.

We live with a false sense of security, only to be awakened by Mother Nature’s fury.

As an artist, as a father and as a person, I aspire to leave the world in a better condition than I was born into. The world is a marvelous but precarious gift, where life on this planet is held in a delicate balance..."

https://lorenzoquinn.com/