Art Everywhere

'Hope', George Frederic Watts & assistants, 1886 | 'Majesty', Tacita Dean, 2006 | 'Ophelia', Sir John Everett Millais | 'Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View', Cornelia Parker, 1991 | 'Portrait of a Young Woman', Winifred Margaret Knights, 1920 | 'The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah', John Martin, 1852 | 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik', Dorothea Tanning, 1943 | 'As if to Celebrate, I Discovered a Mountain Blooming with Red Flowers', Sir Anish Kapoor, 1981

From the 12th of August up until today, you'll probably have seen some new artwork on the streets, particularly around London. Art Everywhere crowd-funds a way to show the general public artworks they might not otherwise see by pasting them on billboards and at bus stops - 22,000 sites and fifty-seven artworks are included in the project. The artworks included this year were great, and even introduced me to a couple of new ones, so I've compiled a few of my favourites. 'Hope' by George Frederic Watts was a piece I'd never seen before, and found particularly interesting. The text from the Tate reads:

Traditionally the figure of Hope is identified by an anchor, but Watts was seeking a fresher, more original approach. He painted blind Hope seated on a globe and playing on a lyre which has all its strings broken except one. She bends her head to listen to the faint music, but her efforts appear forlorn; the overall atmosphere is one of sadness and desolation rather than hope. The picture’s sense of melancholy is enhanced by the soft brushwork and the translucent mists that envelop the floating globe.