5 Important artworks at the Tate Gallery

Tate is a family of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall, known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate St Ives and Tate Liverpool + RIBA North.

When Tate first opened its doors to the public in 1897 it had just one site, displaying a small collection of British artworks.

Today we have four major sites and the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art, which includes nearly 70,000 artworks.

Henri Matisse | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate

Matisse painted this work while renting a house near Nice in the South of France.

The relaxed, relatively naturalistic style is typical of his work of the early 1920s.

It was bought by the Contemporary Art Society in 1926 with the intention of presenting it to the Tate Gallery.

Matisse wrote that the painting ‘will represent me as well as possible - moreover, I think that it will not frighten the acquisitions committee of the Modern Museum in London'.

In fact, the Tate initially turned it down, but accepted it in 1938.| Source: © Tate

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate Collection

John Henry Henshall | Victorian watercolour painter

John Henry Henshall, usually known as Henry Henshall RWS (1856-1928) was a British watercolourist and etcher.

A favourite theme of Henshall's work is the contrast between the happy innocence of childhood, without cares, and the tribulations of old age.

He was not afraid to tackle uncomfortable subjects and his honest, realistic pictures of ordinary life were quite unusual for painters in the Victorian era.

William Shakespeare | To be, or not to be / Essere o non essere

To be, or not to be, opening line of a monologue spoken by the character Hamlet in Act III, scene 1, of William Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy Hamlet (1599-1601). Often referred to as a soliloquy, the speech technically does not meet that term’s strictest definition - that is, a monologue delivered by an actor alone onstage - because Ophelia, the object of Hamlet’s fickle affections, is also present, though Hamlet does not speak directly to her until the speech’s very end.

The scene in which "To be, or not to be" appears is sometimes referred to as "the nunnery scene", because Hamlet spurns Ophelia by telling her to "get thee to a nunnery" rather than wed him or another.

William Shakespeare | To be, or not to be

John Everett Millais | Ophelia (1852) depicts Lady Ophelia's mysterious death by drowning. In the play, the gravediggers discuss whether Ophelia's death was a suicide and whether she merits a Christian burial.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die - to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause - there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

Sir Thomas Lawrence | John Philip Kemble as Hamlet, 1801 | Tate Britain

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

Edwin Austin Abbey | The Play Scene in "Hamlet" (Act III, Scene II), 1897 | Yale University Art Gallery

William Shakespeare | Essere o non essere

Essere, o non essere, questo è il dilemma:

se sia più nobile nella mente soffrire

colpi di fionda e dardi d'oltraggiosa fortuna

o prender armi contro un mare d'affanni

e, opponendosi, por loro fine? Morire, dormire…

nient'altro, e con un sonno dire che poniamo fine

al dolore del cuore e ai mille tumulti naturali

di cui è erede la carne: è una conclusione

da desiderarsi devotamente. Morire, dormire.

Benjamin West | Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia Before the King and Queen), 1792 | Cincinnati Art Museum

Dormire, forse sognare. Sì, qui è l'ostacolo,

perché in quel sonno di morte quali sogni possano venire

dopo che ci siamo cavati di dosso questo groviglio mortale

deve farci riflettere. È questo lo scrupolo

che dà alla sventura una vita così lunga.

Perché chi sopporterebbe le frustate e gli scherni del tempo,

il torto dell'oppressore, l'ingiuria dell'uomo superbo,

gli spasimi dell'amore disprezzato, il ritardo della legge,

l'insolenza delle cariche ufficiali, e il disprezzo

che il merito paziente riceve dagli indegni,

quando egli stesso potrebbe darsi quietanza

con un semplice stiletto? Chi porterebbe fardelli,

grugnendo e sudando sotto il peso di una vita faticosa,

se non fosse che il terrore di qualcosa dopo la morte,

il paese inesplorato dalla cui frontiera

nessun viaggiatore fa ritorno, sconcerta la volontà

e ci fa sopportare i mali che abbiamo

piuttosto che accorrere verso altri che ci sono ignoti?

Eugène Delacroix | Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard, 1839 | Museo del Louvre

Così la coscienza ci rende tutti codardi,

e così il colore naturale della risolutezza

è reso malsano dalla pallida cera del pensiero,

e imprese di grande altezza e momento

per questa ragione deviano dal loro corso

e perdono il nome di azione.

Daniel Maclise | The Play Scene in "Hamlet", 1842 | Tate Museum

Charlie Chaplin | Speech to Humanity, 1940

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire, and black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE (1889-1977).

Chaplin spent many months drafting and re-writing the speech for the end of the film, a call for peace from the barber who has been mistaken for Hynkel.

Regrettably Chaplin’s words are as relevant today as they were in 1940.

Derek Boshier | Pop art painter

Biography from the Tate Gallery

British painter, sculptor, photographer and printmaker Derek Boshier ((1937-2024)) studied painting and lithography at Yeovil School of Art in Somerset (1953-7), Guildford College of Art (1957-9) and the Royal College of Art, London (1959-62), where he was one of the students associated with Pop art.

Boshier juxtaposed contrasting styles within his paintings, but he favoured topical subject-matter such as the space race, political events and the Americanisation of Europe.

Sidney Meteyard | Pre-Raphaelite painter

Sidney Harold Meteyard RBSA (1868-1947) was an English art teacher, painter and stained-glass designer.

A member of the Birmingham Group, he worked in a late Pre-Raphaelite style heavily influenced by Edward Burne-Jones and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Meteyard was born in Stourbridge, his father was Oswald George Meatyard (d. 4 May 1906) and mother Emma Maria Meatyard, née Rutland (1838-1925).

He studied under Edward R. Taylor at the Birmingham School of Art, where he was to later teach for 45 years himself from 1886.

Edward Reginald Frampton | Pre-Raphaelite painter

British painter Edward Reginald Frampton (1870-1923) was known for working in the Pre-Raphaelite style.

Mr. Frampton was specialized in murals, specifically war memorials at churches.

Mr. Frampton considered himself to have been influenced both by primitive Italian painting and the British Pre-Raphaelite design and also by the compositions of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

Charlie Chaplin | Live! / Vivi !

Ho perdonato errori quasi imperdonabili,

ho provato a sostituire persone insostituibili

e dimenticato persone indimenticabili.

Ho agito per impulso,

sono stato deluso dalle persone

che non pensavo lo potessero fare,

ma anch’io ho deluso.

Alice Havers | Genre painter

Alice Mary Celestine Havers, married name Alice Mary Morgan (1850-1890), was an British painter and illustrator.

Life

Alice Mary Havers was the third daughter and youngest of four children born 19 May 1850 to Thomas Havers (1810-1870) of Thelton Hall, Thelveton, Norfolk, the family seat, and his first wife Ellen Ruding (1817-1854).

Joe Webb, 1976 | Mixed media painter

Joe Webb is a British visual artist, known for his enticing handmade mixed media collages.

He uses images from vintage magazines and posters to conjure surreal narratives that express both a comical and cynical take on the modern world.

Webb’s Handmade Collages

Webb worked as a commercial artist and graphic designer for several years. Tired of modern technology and its overwhelming potentials, Joe turned to collage, a technique he described as "more immediate and graphic than painting".

Webb’s elegant handmade collages are made of vintage magazines and printed ephemera that he has collected during the years.

Francis Henry Newbery | Glasgow School of Art

Francis Henry Newbery (1855-1946) or Fra Newbery was a painter and art educationist, best known as director of the Glasgow School of Art between 1885-1917.

Under his leadership the School developed an international reputation and was associated with the flourishing of Glasgow Style and the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his circle.

Newbery helped commission Mackintosh as architect for the now famous School of Art building and was actively involved in its design.

Philip Hermogenes Calderon | The Orphans, 1870

Philip Hermogenes Calderon (1833-1898) was a British painter of Spanish and French descent.

His father, at one time a Roman Catholic priest, was Professor of Spanish Literature at King's College, London.

Calderon studied at James M. Leigh's school in London in 1850, then in Paris at the studio of François-Edouard Picot.

He lived near by in Montmartre, sharing a room with fellow art student Henry Stacy Marks.

King Charles III, 1948 | Watercolorist and Patron of the Arts

King Charles III of the United Kingdom (born Charles Philip Arthur George; 14 November 1948) is an artist, a master watercolour artist of landscapes.

King Charles III's interest began during the 1970s and 1980s when he was inspired by Robert Waddell, who had been his art master at Gordonstoun in Scotland.

In time, King Charles met leading artists such as Edward Seago, with whom he discussed watercolour technique, and received further tuition from John Ward, Bryan Organ and Derek Hill.

Angelica Kauffmann | Neoclassical painter

Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) was a painter in the early Neoclassical style who is best known for her decorative wall paintings for residences designed by Robert Adam.

The daughter of Johann Joseph Kauffmann, a painter, Angelica was a precocious child and a talented musician and painter by her 12th year.

Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher.

Mary Moser | Painter and a Founding of the Royal Academy

Mary Moser RA (1744-1819) was an British painter and one of the most celebrated female artists of 18th-century Britain.

One of only two female founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768 (along with Angelica Kauffmann), Moser painted portraits but is particularly noted for her depictions of flowers.

Charles Haigh-Wood | Genre painter

Charles Haigh-Wood (1856-1927) was a British genre painter, who lived in London, Bury and Taplow, Buckinghamshire.

Haigh-Wood’s enchanting visions of romance, with attractive girls and pretty dresses are some of the most endearing and popular of all images.

His patrons adored them, a successful businessman of Haigh-Wood’s day with any pretension to artistic taste had to own one.

Hector Caffieri | Victorian watercolour painter

Hector Caffieri (1847-1932) was a British watercolourist painter, born in Cheltenham Gloucestershire in England, son of French parents who had settled temporarily in England.

He studied at the Académie Julian with academic painter Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911), both great exponents of genre painting and both traditional academicians.

Caffieri worked and lived in London in 1880.

Albert de Belleroche | Painter of Belle Époque

Count Albert Gustavus de Belleroche (1864-1944), also known as Albert Belleroche, was a Welsh painter and lithographer, who lived most of his childhood and his adulthood in Paris and England.

He began as a painter, but at the turn of the century focused on lithography, for which he is most well-known. He was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre de Leopold by King Albert I of Belgium in 1933.

James Jebusa Shannon | Portrait / Genre painter

Sir James Jebusa Shannon RA (1862-1923) was an Anglo-American artist.

Shannon was born in Auburn, New York, and at the age of eight was taken by his parents to Canada.

When he was sixteen, he went to England, where he studied at South Kensington, and after three years won the gold medal for figure painting.

Albert Ludovici Jr. | Genre painter

Following the profession of his father Albert Johann Ludovici (1820-1894), Albert Ludovici Jr. R.B.A. (1852-1932) spent his life between Paris and London, painting scenes of society at leisure.

His genre paintings were the most popular, particularly his studies of the interaction of couples, whether in public places or of private moments in their homes and lives - these paintings have universal appeal.

But he also painted landscapes and interior scenes in both watercolour and gouache as well as in oils.