The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, has come top of the list of what the public want to see in the world’s largest art show. The painting which interprets the well known poem by Alfred Tennyson, was the painting most Britains wanted to see ,when thousands of street billboards go public, in a nationwide exhibition starting in August.
Showcasing great British art across the UK, Art Everywhere will be the largest exhibition of its kind in the world. For two weeks in August some of the nation’s greatest art will be on display across tens of thousands of billboards up and down the country. Artists, curators, media owners, and entrepreneurs joined by a love of art are fuelling this massive charitable celebration.
A second Pre-Raphaelite painting, Ophelia, by John Everett Millais, took second place in the voting before taste takes a modernist turn with Head VI by Francis Bacon.
“Art is for everyone and everyone who has access to it will benefit from it,” said Damien Hirst, one of the artists supporting the project.
The Art Everywhere project is made possible by Richard Reed, founder of Innocent Drinks. He worked with the ad industry to raise funds to rent Billboards for a fortnight from August 8. The Tate and the Art Fund charity were instructed to put together a committee to nominate works and help with organising the outdoor display.
Other works include the artists John Everett Millais, John Singer Sargent, Alfred Wallis, JMW Turner, LS Lowry, James Whistler, Lucian Freud, Cornelia Parker and Francis Bacon.