Museums of London - Tate Modern gallery. A selection of reproductions of paintings from the London Gallery. Tate Britain How to get to Tate Modern

London has several attractions where you can enjoy traditional and contemporary art. One of prominent representatives cultural sites in the capital is the Tate Gallery, which has become the world's largest collection of British art, which includes works from 1500 to the present. The Tate Gallery is not just one museum, it includes several art museums in London and other cities.

History of the museum

The name for the gallery was not chosen by chance: its founder was Henry Tate. His wealth came from the sugar business: Tate invented cotton candy, so beloved by children, the sale of which brought him huge profits. The businessman was a big fan of Victorian painting, so he decided to invest in art. He supported many English talented artists and first bought their work for myself. His own collection became the beginning of a rich collection of works in the gallery.

The museum building was erected in London near Vauxhall Bridge according to the design of S. Smith. The discovery took place in 1897, and was controlled by new museum Board of Trustees of the National Gallery. In the first guidebook published, you can see that the collection began with only three paintings, including famous work U.D. Sandler "Thursday". The exhibition initially included works by artists born after 1790.

In addition to the Tate collection, at the time of its opening the gallery presented paintings from the South Kensington Museum, works from the Vernon collection, previously exhibited at the National Gallery, and paintings by Watts, which were donated by the artist himself.

In 1899, with Tate funds, 9 halls were added to the main building, making the Tate Gallery the most spacious in the capital. Several more new halls were opened in 1910, where all the works of W. Turner, which he bequeathed to the state, were placed. Until the new halls opened, Turner's paintings were kept in the National Gallery in London.

The museum's collection was constantly replenished. In 1917, a collection of works by foreign artists and sculptors began to be formed. Industrialist Samuel Courtauld in 1923 invested money in acquiring works by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists for the museum. When in 1926 it became impossible to store all the works together, a department of foreign painting was opened in the new building.

During the Second World War, the gallery building was badly damaged, but the exhibits were removed in advance, which saved them from bombing. The museum's exhibitions became available to visitors again in 1949.

Museum division

The Tate Gallery isn't just about painting, it also houses sculptures and prints. In order to adequately display all the available exhibits, departments and branches of the museum began to be decorated in other buildings and even cities. In 1987, the Clore Gallery was opened, where the most complete collection of works by W. Turner is presented. A year later, a branch of the Tate Gallery was opened in Liverpool. In 1993, the Tate St Ives museum was created in Cornwall.

Opened in 2000 new part museum in London. It was located opposite St. Paul's Cathedral on the south bank of the Thames. The location was chosen to be a former power plant building, whose premises were ideally suited for the exhibition. contemporary art. The gallery was called Tate Modern, and the original Tate gallery became Tate Britain.

The Tate Britain gallery presents paintings from the beginning of the 16th century, and their arrangement follows chronology, which makes it possible to understand the main stages of English painting and their features. There is also a division of paintings by theme, and the themes change annually: Victorian spectacles, Cult of Personality, etc., which allows you to look at the paintings from a new angle each time.

Among the exhibits are fantasies on love theme, romantic landscapes, paintings showing the life of the British, mystical works, portraits of famous Englishmen and even crowned heads. Thematic excursions, lectures, as well as entertaining entertainment for children are offered to visitors. Here the paintings even “come to life”, since most of the exhibits are accompanied by sound effects, which greatly delights the youngest visitors.

Tate Modern has quickly become a popular place in modern London. Various exhibitions, performances, and installations are held here. Visitors can enjoy completely different styles and genres of works by contemporary authors.

Museum building

Dear reader, you probably don’t even suspect that when you drink a cup of tea or coffee with a lump of sugar, you are touching... the history of the creation of the Tate Gallery! You ask how? And here's how! The gallery is named after Henry Tait (1819–1899), its founder. It is not customary for us to ask (except for the “competent authorities”) where this or that oligarch got his huge capital and, first of all, that mysterious “initial capital”. In Europe, such a question is possible, and most importantly, an answer to it. Henry Tate, the son of a clergyman, entered the sugar business in the 1860s and established a very profitable dicing and packaging business. The entrepreneur became rich and became a philanthropist: he invested in hospitals, libraries, colleges and finally founded an art gallery.

Museum interior

In the museum hall

Tate acquired paintings mainly from the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts. He was interested in the works contemporary artists, the industrialist knew many of them personally and supported them financially. He not only collected a large collection of paintings by English masters, but also built a building for it at his own expense. It can be said that Tate was for British art what Tretyakov was for Russian art.

The Tate Gallery is a state-owned national museum in London. This is the world's largest collection of English painting, consisting of three large sections: English art from 1550 to the present day; collection of works by William Turner; art of the 20th century. The general art fund of the museum was distributed among several “daughter” galleries: Tate Britain, the Clore Gallery and Tate Modern.

Tate Britain Gallery

The Tate Gallery's collection could not be limited to the works of only those artists whom the entrepreneur himself preferred. Over time, the collection was replenished with paintings by old English masters.

IN national painting XVI–XVII centuries dominates ceremonial portrait. The earliest work of this genre, John Betts's The Man with the Black Hat (1545), which is housed in the museum, bears the imprint of the influence of Hans Holbein the Younger and at the same time provides insight into English Renaissance art.

The next, 18th century includes works by great masters - William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, George Stubbs.

The art of the 19th century is presented in the Gallery even more fully. In addition to the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and William Turner, who will be discussed below, works by William Blake and John Constable are kept here. Landscapes by other authors are also worthy of attention.

Years and decades have brought changes in the distribution of scenic treasures between British museums. A number of Impressionist paintings, which were initially in the Tate Gallery, were transferred to the National Gallery in London. Nevertheless, the museum has a very impressive collection of paintings by masters of this movement, as well as works by almost everyone who stood at the origins of modern art: Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and others.

Tate Modern Gallery

Gallery Clore

The Clore Gallery exhibits the most complete collection works of one of the most talented and famous British artists - William Turner, bequeathed to the state. The estate was transferred in 1856, five years after his death: about 300 paintings and 30,000 drawings and sketches, as well as Turner's notebooks and works considered unfinished, a number of works by other authors. Nine paintings from this collection ended up in the National Gallery in London; they demonstrate the legacy of the great English master in the context of world art. The same piece that made up the Tate's treasure trove is currently on display in the dedicated Clore Gallery, opened in 1987.

Tate Modern

The Tate Modern Gallery as part of the Tate Gallery is the largest national collection of world contemporary art, including English. It was created in 2000, its opening was timed to celebrate the advent of the third millennium. A monumental building of a former power station in the center of London, on the opposite bank of the Thames from St. Paul's Cathedral, was reconstructed for the museum. While maintaining the exterior, the architects completely changed the inside of the building and added a glass and steel roof.

The exhibition is located in four wings of the building. Three are intended for the main movements of art of the 20th century: surrealism, minimalism, abstract art, and the fourth is for closely related friend with a friend of cubism and futurism. The works of many close ones are grouped around the named main trends.

The gallery features significant works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. It houses one of the best collections of surrealism in the world, including paintings by Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro, works of American abstract art, and pop art.

The Tate Gallery is not only a museum collection, but also a center cultural life. Here you can satisfy all your artistic interests. The Gallery's rich and well-organized infrastructure provides the visitor with many opportunities to explore art at different levels of knowledge and involvement in it. This is also a wonderful place to relax, where it’s nice to sit in a cafe after walking through the exhibition halls, listen to a concert of works by composers different eras or choose entertainment to suit your taste and age.

Art of the 17th–18th centuries

Johann Zoffany. Mrs Woodhull. Around 1770

British school. Ladies of the Holmondeley family. 1600–1610

This painting by an unknown English master of the 17th century is extremely interesting in its idea and in a true sense unique. If only because it illustrates an absolutely fantastic case, which is narrated by the inscription below on the left: “Two ladies from a family in Holmondeley, born on the same day, married on the same day and gave birth on the same day.”

Imagining the mentality of a medieval Englishman, one can be sure that although this coincidence seems implausible, it took place and was not a figment of the artist’s imagination. Apparently, to a certain extent, they are artistic embodiment images of ladies whose names are not known for certain. This, one might say, is a ceremonial portrait of sisters with their children. Like mothers in labor, they are shown in bed, their little ones wrapped in scarlet cloth. The artist lived in Cheshire, not far from which is the named estate. The heroines could have been residents of Holmodel Castle, which still exists today.

At first glance, it seems that the women are wearing the same dresses, they are very similar, just like their babies. But this is where the artist’s amazing skill was demonstrated. He introduced the subtlest variety into literally all the equally important details of this double (even, one might say, quadruple) portrait. It is worth comparing the lace of dresses, necklaces, etc. Moreover, the difficult task was to prevent the viewer (given the obvious similarity of the status of the sisters) from getting the impression of greater or lesser attractiveness of one or the other. Probably, now no one will be able to prove that one of the two is more beautiful.

Aesthetically, the painting is extremely interesting: it demonstrates amazing diversity within a certain unity. A complete analogy to this phenomenon in English painting is the first published collection of national virginal music - “Parthenia”, published at the same time, in 1611. Both here and there the artistic method is based on the principle of variation. It is easy to imagine a further example of this diversity contained in identity: two ladies, sitting at two equally similar instruments, will play Gilis Farnaby's piece “For Two Virginels”, in which both parts are equal...

William Hogarth (1697–1764). The artist and his pug. 1745

William Hogarth is a great English artist, engraver, and art theorist.

The “official” title of the work is not entirely accurate; the correct one is “Self-portrait of the artist with his pug.” This painting within a painting continues the Baroque tradition of such self-portraits. In the foreground are objects identifying the model as an artist (palette) and literary educated person(books whose spines say “Shakespeare,” “Swift,” “Milton”). And this is true; later, in 1753, Hogarth’s own treatise “Analysis of Beauty” will be published, but his ideas are already reflected in this self-portrait. Let's take a closer look at the palette: it shows a curved line and an explanation is given: “A line of beauty and grace.” This idea will become the main one in the treatise: the “line of beauty”, according to Hogarth’s teachings, is an S-shaped line, which is the border of two spaces that are most harmoniously combined with each other. Great skill is required to draw it in the most perfect way. Having carried it out, Hogarth likened himself to the ancient Greek artist Apelles - the personification of perfection in the art of painting, who drew such a fine and perfect line that no one could repeat it. But if Apelles, according to legend, had a straight line, then Hogarth took a curved one as a standard. In the preface to the treatise, the artist admitted that “not a single Egyptian hieroglyph has occupied the minds for such a long time” as this line. “Painters and sculptors came to me to find out the meaning of these words, they were no less puzzled by them than anyone else until they received an explanation.”

Second important character The painting is the author's favorite dog - Trump the pug. If you look closely at both depicted, then, as often happens, you can find some similarity in their appearance. In this case, the dog serves as the embodiment of the owner’s pugnacious character.

William Hogarth (1697–1764). Six heads of Hogarth's servants. 1750–1755

William Hogarth had a negative attitude towards the stereotyped secular ceremonial portraits that his contemporaries created in abundance. He usually wrote to his relatives and close people. A group portrait of servants is one such work. It is remarkable not only from an aesthetic point of view as a work of a great master, but also from a social point of view - conveys human dignity people occupying low levels in the social hierarchy, but at the same time possessing undoubted spiritual nobility.

This unusual group portrait originally hung in Hogarth's studio. The artist’s patrons and customers could see it. The work served as proof of the author’s unsurpassed skill in conveying the individual features of the model. It was not commissioned; the painter created it for his own pleasure, and perhaps for his servants.

The painting consists of several unrelated heads. The artist achieved the unity of the composition with the help of their symmetrical arrangement and uniform illumination from a source located outside the picture, in the upper left corner. Hogarth's idea to paint portraits of servants outside their daily work turned out to be unique. The attitude of the master himself towards them is clearly visible - complete disposition. It encourages the viewer to imagine the artist’s calm, orderly, moderate life in his well-kept home.

A study of the work has established that its original size was larger and the author intended to place seven heads. But the last one was not worked out as carefully as the others, and then the artist had the idea to cut off the edge so that the six completed heads would look more complete in composition.

George Stubbs (1724–1806). Mares and foals against the background of a landscape with a river. Around 1763–1768

George Stubbs is famous, first of all, for being one of the first outstanding English painters to devote his work to horses. In the 1760s, Stubbs spent two years doing anatomical studies of these animals. His numerous sketches were published in 1766 as a separate book called “Anatomy of Horses.” The artist worked for an unusually long time on each of his canvases, which was a consequence of his extreme meticulousness and complete absorption in his work. Such a great scientific interest could, in a sense, even become an obstacle to the implementation of purely artistic tasks, but this did not happen in the case of Stubbs. All his images of horses are unusually lively, beautiful, and energetic.

The painting gives the viewer true pleasure in its composition, design and colorful palette. A distant and wide horizon, large expanses of land and water, high place where horses graze, the absence of any barriers for them - all this creates a mood and a feeling of peace and will, so desirable in communication with these animals and so rare in relationships between people.

Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792). Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney. Archers. 1769

English painter Joshua Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts.

The painting is a portrait of two English aristocrats - Colonel Acland (right) and Lord Sidney, an Irish politician and diplomat. Here they are still young, later the colonel will take part in the war of the United States of America for independence (on the side of the British crown), will be wounded in the legs (? 777), survive captivity and return to his homeland, where he will be elected a member of parliament. But so far he has not shown himself to be a hero, and Reynolds portrays him as an ordinary aristocrat, keen, along with Lord Sydney, on hunting - always considered a high-society pastime. They have already succeeded: trophies lie at their feet.

Reynolds presented the scene with extraordinary vividness. The excitement of the hunters and their tension are wonderfully conveyed. By the way, to a large extent the latter is expressed by the elastically stretched bowstrings of archers’ bows. By the time the picture was created, the bow was already a weapon of past times; hunting was carried out with guns. Reynolds idealized the moment and set the setting in the romantically imagined Renaissance. This is also hinted at by the fact that in the figure of Acland there is clearly a hint of another hunter, or rather, huntress - Diana - a character in the Renaissance painting by Titian “The Death of Actaeon” (1562. National Gallery, London).

Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792). Lady Bamfield. 1776–1777

This portrait was commissioned by master Charles Warwick Bamfield on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine Moore, Lady Bamfield. The image of the charming young woman is a witty adaptation of the classical statue of Venus de Medici (from the Medici collection), always considered the embodiment of female beauty. Reynolds's turn to the aesthetic ideals of antiquity was quite organic: at one time, in 1749, he went to Europe, lived in Italy, visited Florence, where in the Uffizi Gallery he saw a marble copy of the lost antique sculpture goddesses. The talent of the great portrait painter was very fully demonstrated in this work, which was mature in skill. The captivating image of the model is given, as usual by Reynolds, against the backdrop of nature.

It is noteworthy that simultaneously with the creation of this portrait, another artist, Johann Zoffany, painted the now famous painting “Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery”, depicting the artistic treasures of the Gallery and this statue. The work was known in England because it was kept in Windsor, in the royal castle.

Henry Robert Morland (1716–1797). Maid ironing clothes. 1765–1782

Throughout his life, Henry Morland painted idealized images of servants, maids, and bards. All these paintings, and this one, are executed in the style, so to speak, of “imaginary painting(s)” - a very sweet, touching genre of painting from the era of sentimentalism. Everything in such works is charming, cozy, safe, calm, and warms the soul. There has always been and, obviously, will be a demand for this kind of work in certain circles of society. A number of masters, Morland among them, made this style the banner of their work. Like every artistic movement, it has its own luminaries. Acclaimed masterpiece- Dresden “Chocolate Girl” by J. E. Lyotard. Such painting has analogies in music (Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach - one of the eldest sons of J. S. Bach), literature (early J. V. Goethe), architecture (urban “single-family” houses throughout Europe). The demand for such paintings was so great that the same plot was replicated by painters many times. This image of a young maid busy ironing, appears to exist in five versions, written within the time period indicated in the date of creation of the work.

John Singleton Copley, American and English artist, representative of classicism, portraiture and history painting, was born in Boston. His stepfather was a brush master and later helped his stepson. In 1774, on the eve of the American Revolutionary War, Copley left America and settled in London. Here he turned to the historical genre. The master was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

The painting is also known under its second title - “Jersey Assault”. For understanding battle painting it is necessary to know the political and military balance of power, who fought and with whom. The Storming of Jersey was an attempt by France to invade the island and eliminate the threat it posed to American shipping during the Revolutionary War. Jersey was used by the British as military base, and France, the eternal enemy of England, having entered the war as an ally of the United States, wanted to gain control over it.

The French landed in Jersey on January 5, 1781. The governor surrendered the island after the fall of its capital, St. Helier, but twenty-four-year-old Major Francis Pearson, commander of the garrison, rejected capitulation and led a successful counter-attack. In reality, the major was killed shortly before the battle, but Copley depicts him dying under the British flag at the moment of victory. Pearson's black servant shoots, avenging the death of his master.

Francis Pearson became national hero UK, the painting attracted crowds when it was first exhibited. It is reproduced on the ten Jersey pound note.

Henry Fusli (1741–1825). The Shepherd's Dream from Paradise Lost. 1793

Henry Fusli is a Swiss and English artist, graphic artist, historian and art theorist. He served as a pastor, then studied painting in Berlin, from 1764 he worked in England, and was friends with William Blake. The master's work is one of the earliest examples of romanticism in England.

Poems by John Milton Lost Paradise" and "Paradise Found" attracted the attention of Fusli in his youth, when he lived in Switzerland. Many romantic artists turned to them, wanting to illustrate individual episodes. This picture depicts lines from the 1st book of the poem, which tell about fairy-tale elves:

Little elves that at the midnight hour
On the banks of streams and in forests
They dance on the edges; late pedestrian
He sees them in reality, or perhaps in delirium,
When the moon reigns over him, towards the earth
Reducing their pale flight, they are frolicking,
Spinning (...)
Instead of depicting the elves dancing, as was usually done, the author imagines them holding hands and circling over the sleeping shepherd, who sees this in his fantasies. Fusli mobilizes all his imagination to create supernatural creatures, inhabiting the picture. They are interesting to look at.

The work was written for the large gallery of images of Milton's poem created by the artist.

Philip James de Lauterburg (1740–1812). Vision of a white horse. 1798

Philip James de Lauterburg (known as Philippe-Jacques, also Philip Jacob the Younger) is an English artist of French origin. He studied in Strasbourg, his parents prepared him to become a Lutheran priest, but the young man insisted on being an artist, for this purpose he went to Paris and there he soon became famous. In 1771, the master moved to London and accepted an invitation from actor David Garik to work as a set designer for London's oldest theater, Drury Lane. In this field he had outstanding achievements.

The last decades of the 18th century (the era of the Great French Revolution, subsequent wars and the anticipation of a new millennium approaching relatively soon) gave impetus to another interpretation of the apocalyptic theme. Artists began to develop scenes of the death of the world, Last Judgment, the end of humanity. Lauterburg's painting shows the first two of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse - the “Conqueror” (“I looked, and behold a white horse, and a rider on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he went out victorious, and to conquer.” - Rev. , 6:2) and “War” (“And another horse came out, a red one; and power was given to him who sat on him to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and a great sword was given to him.” - Rev. 6:4). In interpreting this plot, the author clearly relied on Durer’s famous engraving “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” from his “Apocalypse” series.

William Blake (1757–1827). Nebuchadnezzar. 1795–1805

English artist, poet, mystic, visionary William Blake studied in London at the Royal Academy of Arts. Its formation was influenced by the trends of national romanticism. Coming from a very religious family, from early childhood he cultivated reverence for the Bible, the images of which possessed him throughout his life, and created a large number of illustrations for it that were very original in ideas, composition and technique. Blake's world is populated by fantastic characters, presented in images and phenomena that are exceptional in the context of art at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Blake has no parallel in his era. In fact, only some of the creations of the surrealists can compare with the riot of his imagination. The Tate Gallery houses 175 of the artist's works.

You can understand Blake’s picture if you know the story of Nebuchadnezzar in the biblical Book of Daniel (4:26–30): “At the end of twelve months, walking through the royal palaces in Babylon, the king said: “Is not this the majestic Babylon, which I have built as a house?” kingdom by the strength of my might and to the glory of my greatness! “While this speech was in the mouth of the king, a voice came from heaven: “They say to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: the kingdom has departed from you!” And they will separate you from men, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field; They will feed you grass like an ox, and seven times will pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of man and gives it to whomever He wants!“ Immediately this word was fulfilled over Nebuchadnezzar, and he was excommunicated from people, ate grass, like an ox, and his body was watered with the dew of heaven, so that his hair grew like that of a lion, and his claws like those of a bird.”

After seven years, he raised his eyes to the sky, praised the Almighty, and immediately returned to his former human condition.

19th century art

Albert Moore. Bloom. 1881

John Constable (1776–1837). Scene on a navigable river. 1816–1817

This painting by the English landscape painter John Constable is known under its second title - “Fletford Mill”. The mill was located in the very center of the region, where large quantities corn was grown, which, by the way, during the war with France, when England, due to the blockade by Napoleon, could only count on its own food resources, was a profitable business. The artist's father was successful, and this breadwinner of the family, standing on the banks of the River Stour, in the small village of East Berghoult, where the painter was born, appears more than once in his paintings. In his youth, Constable traveled widely around the area, making sketches and sketches. According to the author himself, these sketches “made him an artist, for which he is very grateful.”

The large log in the lower left corner of the picture is, of course, one of the supports of the mill, which explains the animation of the inhabitants on the shore. The barge becomes detached from the horse as it now has to set off.

In one of his letters, Constable admits that he associates his carefree adolescence, first of all, with the River Stour, because it was thanks to it that he became a master. In this landscape artistic means this children's association is expressed. A rare calm reigns in the picture, an almost Arcadian serenity of existence, accessible to everyone.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Loch Buttermere, overlooking Cromacwater in Cumberland. Shower. 1798

Joseph Mallord William Turner is an unsurpassed master of romantic landscape, essentially an impressionist in the spirit of his painting. In 1871, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, who saw his works in London, could not believe that the British artist, several decades before the Parisian Impressionists, managed to anticipate their stylistic searches. The Tate Gallery has the largest collection of Turner's works, with 4,187 drawings, sketches and sketches.

The inspiration for the painting was the poem “Spring” by the Scottish poet James Thomson:

Sloping to the west, the sun appears
So brilliant - and quick radiance
It hits straight into the mountains - and out of the yellow haze
Takes off, rushing into infinity
Air arc, blooming colors.
English painting and literature XVIII centuries provide a lot of reasons for comparing the images glorified in them. British philosophers created a new, original concept of the “sublime”: it is heterogeneous. In landscapes, two types of it can be distinguished: the first is conventionally called “frighteningly sublime”, associated with storms and disasters, the second - “natural sublime” - is addressed to calmer states of nature. Here Turner changed some details and, in essence, altered the poetic image; in Thomson it is an example of the first, while in the painter it is very dramatic. The author loved to depict nature possessed by the elements. His preparatory drawing, made during a trip to the north of England a year earlier, reads: “Black.” Turner will continue to supply his paintings with stage directions, the purpose of which is to arouse in the viewer awe and fear of the greatness and forces of nature.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Blizzard Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps. 1812

The painting dates back to the beginning of Turner's career; it is one of the most daring and significant works of the young painter. The plot is based on the story of the ancient Roman historian Titus Livy about the battle of the Carthaginian Hannibal with local tribes during the transition through the Alps to Italy in 218 BC. e. Turner chose the Aosta Valley as the setting, which he visited during his trip in 1802. The battle shown with a certain high point, unfolds over the entire space of the canvas, it, struck by an incredible storm, goes into the distance, one of the legendary elephants of Hannibal’s army is visible on the horizon. The painter is a master of depicting actions on a large scale. The uncertainty caused by the blurred outline creates an unusually sublime image.

The first showing of the painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London was accompanied by the publication of Turner's poem "The Deception of Hope." It contains these lines:

<…>the leader looks
With hope for the fading sunset,
Where is the edge of the Italian winds
Cut at the edge of the year.
What awaits them, blood-soaked rocks
And landslides, beyond the stone desert?
He imagined: Campania's rich plains.
The wind howled: Capua temptations are poison!
The “response” of the wind refers to Livy’s description of the subsequent fall of Hannibal’s army due to the fact that the abundant life on the Italian plateau undermined the moral and physical strength of the soldiers.

The painting gives another allusion - to Napoleon Bonaparte: two years before the creation of the canvas, Turner saw the work of Jacques-Louis David “Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass”, in which the First Consul is presented as a modern Hannibal. Thus, Turner's work refers to Napoleon's invasion of the Tyrolean Alps, it was written at the height of the war with France. Together with the poetic warning, the depicted snowstorm can be perceived as a symbol and omen of the collapse of the ambitions of both Carthage and Napoleonic France.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Bay Bay with Apollo and Sibyl. 1823

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Bay Bay with Apollo and Sibyl. 1823 (fragment)

Turner showed this painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London the same year he completed it. Meanwhile, work on it, apparently, had been carried out earlier, and the canvas became a kind of result of the author’s first trip to Italy in the fall of 1819. Then he visited Venice, Naples, Florence and Rome, where, under the patronage of Canova, he was elected an honorary member of the Academy of St. Luke.

Turner was captivated by the views of Italy. This is evidenced not only by the painting itself, but also by the Latin motto inscribed on it from Horace’s ode “To Calliope”: “Seu liquidae placuere Baiae” (“or Baia the seaside attracts me”).

Although, according to the title of the work and the statements of art historians, it is the Bay of Bay that is depicted here, it is quite obvious that the painting represents a romantic idealized landscape and is reminiscent of similar landscapes by C. Lorrain. A funny story is known: Turner’s younger contemporary, the artist George Jones, talked about the painting with a traveler who had recently visited the shores of Bay Bay. He stated that “half the scene was simply made up.” Then an indignant colleague inscribed on the frame: “Splendide mendax” (from Latin - “brilliant lie”). Turner had fun and did not remove this inscription for a long time.

On this canvas, the Bay Bay became the setting for the story of Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl. The plot goes back to Ovid's Metamorphoses. It tells the story of how Apollo fell in love with the Sibyl from Cumae, in northern Italy. God seduced her, promising for his embrace to extend her life for as many years as there are grains of dust contained in a handful of dust. And although she refused him, Apollo kept his word and endowed her with longevity, but did not give her eternal youth. Thus, she was doomed to exist for centuries in the form of a decrepit old woman. The Sibyl, a young woman, is shown seated in front of Apollo. Her cupped hands are filled with dust. God sits in front of her on a stone, one of his hands is on the lyre. This plot is quite late, it first appeared in the 17th century.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Storm at sea. Around 1840

Although Turner was certainly a city dweller, he was always drawn to the sea. From the early 1830s, he constantly visited Margate, a town on the coast in Kent. Here the artist made many sketches of sea views at different moments: calm, waves, storms, during the daytime, at sunset...

In the author’s paintings, both the idea itself and the skill of its implementation amaze and delight. As for the idea, the viewer always “hears” in his landscapes, especially seascapes, a certain romantic motive, which seems to pour out from the very depths and hidden corners human soul. It seems that Turner’s landscape literally says something, inspires... It captures the viewer, makes him an accomplice, heeding the call of nature.

The painter's passion for landscapes depicting stormy weather is explained by his interest in the theme of the sublime. He again and again recalls the power of nature, depicting the sea as a beautiful and at the same time terrifying element. For Turner, the ocean was the backdrop against which action unfolded and drama was played out. This is especially clear when the human factor is actually introduced into the picture, for example, in the form of a shipwreck. But even on this canvas, where only the elements are conveyed, the possibility of such a catastrophe is felt.

Using an almost monochrome range of dark tones, the master depicts a dense curtain of storm clouds. It seems that here he is using the same method that he used when creating similar drawings on paper: he draws the crests of storm waves and removes a small amount of paint with his fingertips in order to convey the curves of the waves more clearly.

End of the first part

In 1897, the Tate Gallery was opened, which is considered one of the largest collections of English art of the Little Ice Age (16th-20th centuries). The gallery received its name in honor of its creator, Sir Henry Tate. As the British sugar king, he supported many talented artists. Henry acquired a huge number of works by painters for himself. Soon his collection took pride of place in the gallery of British art, where over sixty thousand magnificent works are collected.

Today the Tate Gallery is a wonderful combination of painting, sculpture, and engraving. The museum building consists of two parts, one of which is a gallery Tate Britain, which is also called the old Tate Gallery (the second part of the building is the modern gallery).

During the Second World War, the museum was badly damaged, but the collection was preserved (it was evacuated in advance). Visitors saw it again in 1949. The Tate Britain collection is a collection of paintings that dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. Visiting the halls of the old gallery, each guest is given the opportunity not only to enjoy English painting, but also to learn the main stages and features artistic life this period.

The paintings in the gallery rooms are presented in chronological order and divided according to topic. Topics may change periodically, which helps to increase interest in the museum. Here you can see romantic paintings, mystical engravings, and author's fantasies. A separate building of the museum houses the Turner collection, which includes more than 300 paintings. The museum is also popular among young visitors, because within its walls there are fascinating excursions for children, as well as paintings that “come to life” (most paintings are accompanied by sound effects).

Story

Almost everything art museums London began with private collections, sold or donated to him under certain conditions. Such acquisitions constitute the main source of growth in the number of works of art for all art galleries. Owners who donate their collections to museums often stipulate the procedure for their storage and placement. This prevents the museum from creating a unified composition by bringing together paintings by the same masters or schools. Sometimes the conditions of collection owners are reflected in the profile of an art museum.

This can be attributed to the Tate Gallery, where at the heart of the museum is a collection of paintings by wealthy industrialist Henry Tate. With his own funds, the first exhibition halls were built on the banks of the Thames in 1897. The opening of the museum took place on July 21 of the same year. The first visitors walked through the halls on August 16th.

The Tate collection consisted of 67 works contemporary time of English artists and three sculptures. Among the paintings were works by Leighton, Millais, Ochardson and others. In 1910, rooms were added to accommodate Turner's landscapes. According to the artist's will, his paintings were to be exhibited together. This became an incentive to purchase paintings by English classics. The gallery grew rapidly through the acquisition of art collections through the National Trust, created in 1903. Paintings came as gifts from private individuals, as well as from the funds of the National Gallery. The museum very soon became the largest in terms of area occupied by exhibitions.

Since 1915, the Tate Gallery gradually began to transform from a gallery of modern English art into a gallery of English art of all periods. This new status was approved by the government of the country on March 24, 1917. In this regard, the National Gallery transferred more than 200 paintings by English artists to this museum.

In the 1980s The Tate Gallery's premises were significantly expanded. In particular, on the north-eastern side, halls were built for the collection of modern art. The National Collection of English Paintings is housed in the halls of the left half of the gallery.

For the life of England in the 16th century. characterized by a rapid rise in culture and art, which was favored by the political and economic conditions prevailing in the country. The absolute monarchy established under the Tudors (Henry VII and Henry VIII) contributed to the unity of the nation and the economic development of England. Under Elizabeth I, the country's international position also strengthened. The evolution of English art took its own path, different from the development of art on the continent. Henry VIII's Reformation freed England from papal Rome, creating a new Anglican Church and destroying the monasteries.

As a result, the power of the clergy was weakened and the ideals of secular culture came to the fore. In painting, the expression of the prevailing living conditions was found in the portrait. This was the only genre of painting cultivated by the authorities, which served to exalt the king and glorify the court nobility. During the reign of the Tudors, leading positions in painting belonged to foreign masters invited to the English court. But despite the fact that they contributed their artistic images and techniques, the features of the English national art school were already clearly visible.

The Tate Gallery has a portrait of Elizabeth I by the English portraitist Nicholas Hilliard. The queen's face is interpreted somewhat flatly. The artist focuses on the fine detailing of the ornament of her vestment. These features, characteristic of English artists of the Elizabethan period, can be traced in the work of other portrait painters.

A real revolution in the art of English portraiture was made by the famous Fleming Anthony Van Dyck. He was invited to court in 1632 by Charles I, and the painter lived in England for the last 9 years of his life. During this time, he painted more than 300 paintings, among which there are true masterpieces known throughout the world. The traditions of liveliness established by the artist were preserved until the 18th century. One of Van Dyck's most beautiful portraits is “The Lady of the Spencer Family.” The viewer is delighted by the elegance and grace of the woman, her majestic dignity. The artist skillfully emphasized the subtle beauty of the woman and the elegance of her outfit, depicting with a light brush the delicate shades of a luxurious blue dress. IN late XVII V. The Restoration era began in England. Charles II, the son of the executed Charles I, sat on the throne. During these years, the leading portrait painter of England was Van Dyck's student, the Dutchman Peter Lely. He was a wonderful draftsman with excellent taste and a sense of color.

In the 18th century A national school of painting was formed in the country, from which real masters emerged who made the glory of English fine art. The most colorful figure among the artists of the first half of the XVIII V. was William Hogarth. He wrote satirical paintings, historical paintings, wonderful portraits. Hogarth is also known as the author of the treatise “The Analysis of Beauty”, where the artist acted as an art theorist. The Tate Gallery houses first-class works by Hogarth. “Self-Portrait with a Dog” is considered one of his masterpieces. The solution to this canvas is somewhat unusual. The oval portrait stands on stacks of books by the artist’s favorite authors - Shakespeare, Milton, Swift. Next to the portrait sits the faithful dog Trump, Hogarth’s friend, and the artist’s palette lies. All items shown are in complete harmony with each other and emphasize the most important detail in the picture - the artist’s face. Hogarth's self-portrait originally came to the National Gallery along with the Angerstain collection, and was transferred to the Tate Gallery along with other works by English artists. The paintings “Portrait of Servants” and “The Wedding Ball” are considered the pinnacle of Hogarth’s work.

Leading artist of the second half of the 18th century. Joshua Reynolds spoke, becoming the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, which he founded in 1768. Reynolds left England a portrait gallery of everyone outstanding people of that time. The Tate Gallery houses 35 works by this remarkable painter.

Thomas Gainsborough wrote a bright page in the history of English portraiture. In addition, he was a master of landscape and was considered the most English artist of all. Most interesting works Gainsborough's original portraits are in landscape. An example of this genre is “Portrait of Vicar John Chafee Playing the Cello in the Park.” The picture was painted with great sympathy, since Gainsborough himself loved music and had great respect for other musicians. The figure of the vicar is located close to the left edge of the canvas, and true English nature is depicted on the right. Gainsborough was particularly successful female portraits. Among the best are portraits of the ballerina Giovanna Baccelli and the artist’s daughter Mary.

Joseph Mallord William Turner and John Constable revolutionized landscape painting. In Turner's paintings, the main elements are light and air, and reality is intricately intertwined with romantic symbolism. A significant event for the cultural life of London was the opening in April 1987 of a new wing of the gallery - the Clore Gallery, built specifically to house a huge collection of Turner's paintings. And this is neither more nor less - 300 oil paintings and more than 20 thousand drawings and watercolors. All of them creative path great English artist. Museum visitors are amazed by Turner’s brilliant talent, who managed to penetrate the depths of the seas, reveal the secrets of typhoons and storms, and learn to convey the radiant sunlight.

John Constable, in love with the nature of his native England, created paintings glorifying the poetic beauty of the surrounding world. He tried to reveal the charm of English nature in every manifestation. Among the masters of English painting listed above there are not many names; it is simply not possible to talk about them all in a short text. The modern collection of the gallery consists of two exhibitions, one of which includes paintings and graphics of the English school from the 16th century. to this day, and the other is dedicated to Western European painting and sculpture late XIX- beginning of the 20th century

Next to the Impressionist paintings in the gallery you can see rare sculptural works by Renoir, Matisse and Degas, whom many know only as painters. Several halls house works by painters of the latest trends in contemporary art.

The Tate Gallery has become not only the largest repository of works of art, but also an important scientific center. The gallery's specialists carry out serious research in the field of art history. The gallery constantly hosts exhibitions and various events related to the life and work of various artists, and there are clubs for children. More than 2 million people pass through the halls of the gallery every year.

Contents of the article

TATE GALLERY(Tate Gallery) is a state national museum in London, storing over sixty thousand works of art: paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings. Divided into two parts: British gallery Tate Britain or the old Tate Gallery, which is a collection of English painting from the 16th to 19th centuries. And foreign art 19th century, and Tate Modern - European and American art from 1900 to the present.

The basis of the Tate Gallery's collection is the private collection of Sir Henry Tate (1819–1899) paintings by English artists. The gallery opened on July 21, 1897.

During the Second World War, the gallery building was heavily damaged as a result of air raids. The collection was evacuated in advance. The museum fully opened to visitors in 1949.

The gallery was completed several times. In 1926, a new building housed a collection of foreign paintings. In 1979, rooms for the collection of contemporary art were opened. In 1987 - the opening of the Clore Gallery, specially built for the works of Turner (1775–1851), who bequeathed his paintings to England on the condition that they would all be preserved as a single exhibition. Sir Charles Clore (1904–1979) provided funds for the construction of the gallery.

The modern Tate Gallery opened in May 2000. The building was converted from a power station erected in the 1930s in the city center, opposite St. John's Cathedral. Paul. While maintaining the exterior of the power plant, the architects completely redesigned the inside of the building and added a glass and steel roof.

The modern Tate Gallery has moved away from the traditional arrangement of works in chronological order. The collection consists of four large sections: “Still life, object, real life", "Landscape and Environment", "Historical Painting", "Nude, Action, Body". The authors of the exhibition connect various directions: works of old masters with modern ones, painting and sculpture with photographs and videos. The gallery hosts many temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists.

MUSEUM COLLECTION

English painting.

In the halls of the old Tate Gallery you can get a complete picture of what English painting is, what the main stages and directions of artistic life in the country are.

The earliest work of the national school is Portrait of a man in a black hat(1545) John Betts (d. c. 1576), a follower of the Northern Renaissance artist Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1498–1543).

William Hogarth (1697–1764): Beggar's Opera (1729), Self-portrait with a dog (1745), Wedding ball(c. 1745), Portrait of servants(1750s), Oh the roast beef of old England(Gate of Calais) (1748), numerous portraits.

Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792): The Three Graces decorate the herm of Hymen (1774), Portrait of Admiral Keppel (1780), Portrait of Dr. Samuel Johnson(1772), two self-portraits, children's portraits.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788): View of Dedham(c. 1760), Sunset. Horses drawn in a cart, drinking water from a stream(c. 1760), Sir Benjamin Truman (1774), The artist's daughter Mary (1777), Giovanna Baccelli (1782).

Richard Wilson (1713–1782): Thames near Twickenhnm (1762).

George Stubbs (1724–1806): Horses in nature (1762–1768), Hay harvesting (1785), Reapers (1785).

The work of William Blake (1757–1827), who illustrated his own works, as well as Shakespeare, Dante, and the Bible in watercolors and engravings, is fully shown: God creates Adam, Newton, Death of Abel, Good and evil angels, Pity (1795–1804).

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851): Fishermen at sea (1796), Thames Walton Bridge(c. 1807), Shipwreck(c. 1805), Frosty morning. Dawn (1813), Crossing the stream (1815), Funeral at sea(1842). Canvases with views of Venice: Bridge of Sighs, Doge's Palace and Customs, Venice: Canaletto at the easel(1833), etc. Impressionistic landscapes of the artist: Interior at Petworth(c.1837), Norham Castle. Sunrise(c. 1840). Blizzard. A steamer at the entrance to the harbor gives a distress signal after getting into shallow water(1842) – a perfect depiction of a storm at sea. The gallery displays hundreds of sketches and the only Self-portrait Turner (1798).

John Constable (1776–1837): Malvern Hall (1809), Flatford Mill (1817), Hamstead Heath(c.1820), Hadley Castle(c. 1828–1829), Opening of the bridge Waterloo (1832).

Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882): Beata Beatrix(c. 1863), Proserpina(1874); John Everett Millais (1829–1896): Ophelia(c. 1850); William Holman Hunt (1827–1910): Claudis and Isabella (1850).

Collection of foreign art

began to take shape in 1917. This section begins chronologically with painting French impressionists and post-impressionists and has an extensive collection of masters of these movements.

Claude Monet (1840–1926): Lady sitting on a bench(mid 1870s), Seine near Port-Villeuse (1894), Poplars on Epte (1890).

Camille Pissarro (1830–1903): Small maid (1882), Self-portrait (1903), Pilots Jatt. Le Havre Cloudy morning (1903).

Alfred Sisley (1839–1899): Bridge on Sèvres(c. 1877), Path by the river. Spring(1880), etc.

Sculptures of Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) Venus the Conqueror(1914) and Edgar Degas Fourteen year old dancer (1880).

Georges Seurat (1859–1891): Le Bec do Hock (1885).

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906): Alley in Jas de Bouffan(c. 1874), Portrait of a Gardener(1906); Paul Gauguin (1848–1903): Preparation for the holiday or Tahitian pastoral (1898), Harvest. Le Pouldu (1890).

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890): Chair with tobacco pipe (1888), Gauguin's armchair at night lighting (1888).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901): Portrait of the artist Emil Bernard(1885), Two friends(1890s).

Sculptures by masters of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917): Kiss (1901–1904), Muse(1896) and Aristide Maillol (1861–1944): Restricted movement (1906), Three nymphs (1930–1938).

Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Portrait of Andre Derain (1905), Standing nude (1907), Snail(1953) – large colored applique, as well as a series of four bronze reliefs – Nude with backs (1909-1930).

Edvard Munch (1863–1944): Sick girl(1907); Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980): View of the Thames (1959).

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920): Little peasant(1917), sculpture Head(c. 1913).

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Woman in a chemise(c. 1905) – refers to the “blue” period; Seated nude(1909) - an example of cubism; Three dancers(1925) are written in a surreal spirit. Sculpture on display: Still life (1914), Big cock (1932).

Tate Modern is a London gallery of modern art, presenting exhibits from 1500 to the present day. Tate Modern is located on the banks of the Thames in the former Bankside Power Station. This is a majestic structure with a glass roof, the central part of which looks like a huge pipe almost 100 meters high.

The building was built after the Second World War and is one of the most successful examples of industrial architecture. It is located in unique place with superb views of the Thames and St Peter's Basilica.

Address

Address - Bankside, London SE1 9TG

How to get to Tate Modern

• Nearest tube station is Southwark on the Jubilee Line
• A little further - Blackfriars station (District and Circle Line) or St Pauls (Central Line)
• Buses 45, 63 and 100 to Blackfriars Bridge Road, routes RV1 and 381 to Southwark Street, route 344 to Southwark Bridge Road.

Tate Modern opening hours - summer 2019

• Sunday - Thursday from 10:00 to 18:00
• Friday - Saturday from 10:00 to 22:00
• Entry closes 45 minutes before the museum closes
• Closed December 24-26

Tate Modern ticket prices - summer 2019

• Inspection of permanent compositions - free
• Exhibits and special events require a ticket purchase. The cost depends on the exhibitions held.

From history

The founder of the Tate Gallery in London was Henry Tate, owner of Tate & Lyle, who became rich through the invention and sale of cotton candy. Henry Tate was a connoisseur of Victorian painting and decided to invest his money in art, organizing an exhibition of works by British masters of painting of the 19th century in 1897.

Subsequently, this collection was constantly replenished and over a hundred years such a number of art objects were collected that in 2000 they decided to set aside a separate gallery for the exhibition of contemporary art.

The Bankside Power Station building, which closed in 1981, was well suited for this purpose. So, the group of Tate galleries has been replenished exhibition hall contemporary art.

• The new building was named "Tate Modern", it housed collections of modern art
• The old gallery, representing only classical English art, became known as Tate Britan.

Over the years, Tate Modern has gained great popularity - it has become the most visited gallery in the world, with more than 5 million visitors a year.

Overview of exhibits

The Tate Modern gallery is one of the largest in the world, it contains about 70 thousand exhibits of modern art and covers the period from 1900 to the present day.

The exhibitions are presented in chronological order, and within each period thematic sections are distinguished. For example, topics could be “Poetry and Dreams” or “Things in Motion.” The content and names of sections change approximately once a year.

Thanks to this arrangement of exhibits, works of completely different types can be presented in one room. different styles and manner of performance.

You will see how the style and idea of ​​beauty changes over time and the change of eras, new ideas and trends in art appear.

Among the exhibits are paintings by such artists as Cezanne and Matisse, Picasso and Dali, Miro and Warhol, Andre and Rothko, Kandinsky, as well as works by other outstanding masters of the 20th century. All movements of contemporary art are represented, including surrealism and cubism, modernism and pop art, minimalism and conceptualism.

You will see portraits of ruling persons and famous people, paintings of English life and romantic fantasies, mystical engravings and watercolors, as well as works of felt and metal, as well as a collection of secular posters.

Tate Modern has the largest exhibition hall in the world, this is a former turbine hall, 160 meters long, the height of a ten-story building and balconies with beautiful views of London.

The Clore building houses the world's largest exhibition of paintings by the English artist William Turner. About 300 of the artist’s works include both historical paintings and works in the spirit of the impressionists, although they were painted by the master half a century before the appearance of this trend in painting.

Tate Modern has a lot of unusual exhibits: for example, a huge artificial sun and an incomprehensible sculptural figure in the form of a human organ, and even a spiral slide from which you can slide.

Temporary exhibitions and seminars, lectures and performances are organized, and the Open Studio training center operates, where children, together with their parents, can create their own work using materials and tools.

If you would like to visit the gallery classical art Tate British, you can reach it by boat on the Thames. Thames Clipper boats depart every 40 minutes throughout the day.

Cafe and shop

There is a coffee bar on the 4th floor, and on the top floor you can not only have a meal in the restaurant, but also enjoy the magnificent panorama of London.

On the ground floor there is a shop selling modern-style souvenirs, as well as books and art albums.

Tate Modern official website

Official website address – www.tate.org.uk

The Tate Modern gallery is interesting not only for adults - children will not be bored here either. The museum regularly hosts family lectures, themed tours and games, and the viewing of some paintings is accompanied by sound effects. By visiting Tate Modern, you will feel and understand the spirit of modern British and world culture.