London's National Gallery brings a Constable painting to a shopping mall

A famous painting by John Constable, John Constable’s Wheatfield of 1826, is on display in a shopping mall in Jarrow, an English town of forty thousand in South Tyneside, on the outskirts of Newcastle. It is an initiative of the National Gallery in London, where the painting is kept, to bring British people closer to art. It is the first stop on a tour that will take the painting to several unusual places between June and July through partnerships with charities, local museums and area associations.

Constable’s painting, though completed in his London studio, depicts a Suffolk landscape, and is inspired by a glimpse of Fen Lane, a street Constable often walked as a boy from his village of East Bergholt to Dedham, where he attended school. The lane still exists but the countryside and village seen in the painting were largely invented. The Wheatfield often inspires viewers to think about what home means to them and how it makes them feel, and Constable himself wrote that “painting is but another word for feeling.” This is the spirit in which the National Gallery is taking the work on tour.

The idea of this unusual tour, called Visits and now in its third year (2021 and 2022 had involved other paintings being taken to small local museums and galleries far from London), is to provide various English communities with “an opportunity to interact with and benefit from the culture in their local areas on a long-term basis,” as the presentation states. In fact, according to surveys, many UK residents said they are not regular visitors to cultural spaces, although they are interested in reviewing art in the future. Thus, the collaborations carried out by the National Gallery with local museums and galleries have in turn helped them to grow their audiences, the London-based museum points out.

Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, said, "The Visits tour is a highlight for us at the Gallery. It is an exciting way to connect with new partners across the UK and to be part of their exceptional work with their local communities. Through our collection we want to enrich lives by connecting art, people, and ideas across centuries, countries, and cultures; our partners lead conversations about the painting and how they want to respond to it. It’s always exciting to see the playful, creative and inclusive learning opportunities that arise from these collaborations."

Mary McMahon, curator of British painting at the National Gallery, adds, “Constable’s paintings encourage us to interact with the beauty of the countryside around us in the UK and the role that memory plays in our attachment to it. It is the perfect painting to remind everyone who sees it that wild spaces, just like great art, belong to all of us.”

London's National Gallery brings a Constable painting to a shopping mall

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