George Shaw: My Back to Nature

About

This series of new paintings and drawings was created by Turner Prize nominee George Shaw whilst in residence at the National Gallery as the Rootstein Hopkins Associate Artist. George had unrestricted access to explore the collection when the gallery was closed. Inspired by woodland scenes in the collection, these new works resonate with the artist’s experience of walking in the forest near his hometown as a teenager, with the feeling that ‘something out of the ordinary’ could happen at any time there, away from the supervision of adults.

George was inspired by the mythological woodland landscapes of artists including Titian and Poussin. He was interested in how their stories – often featuring violence, illicit sex and drunkenness – are not dissimilar to the way that people might behave in the woods today.

This exhibition is accompanied by the loan of two of the works that inspired Shaw during his National Gallery residency, a rare opportunity to view works by Piero del Pollaiuolo and Nicolas Poussin outside London.