National Gallery brings masterpieces onto the streets
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The National Gallery in London is encouraging people to hang around the streets of Soho and a corner of Covent Garden once infamous for its filth and debauchery. But it is not suggesting they indulge in anything mucky; it merely wants them to admire some art.
Full-scale framed reproductions of 30 masterpieces from the National Gallery - among them works by Caravaggio, Rubens and Constable - are going up on the outside walls of buildings including a bookmaker’s and a pub. The gallery hopes the spectacular reproductions will lure visitors to the real thing in Trafalgar Square.
The so-called Grand Tour has been made possible as a result of the collaboration between the National Gallery and HP. Rather than the public seeking out its art - art is seeking out its public, interrupting their everyday lives and reminding them of the treasures just around the corner.
Go to website The Grand Tour
Go to press release (National Gallery, June 2007)
Go to photo tour (The Guardian, June 13, 2007)
Click here to visit The Grand Tour photo pool on Flickr
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