Ruins are curious objects of desire: they seduce us with decay and destruction. The ruin may remind us of a glorious past now lying in pieces, or point to the future collapse of our present culture. Certain ruins are preserved as memorials, others demolished or rebuilt. For centuries artists have been attracted to ruins, seeing new ideals of beauty in their desolation, as well as sublime warnings from past.
This transhistorical exhibition offers a guide to the mournful, thrilling, comic and perverse uses of ruins in art from the seventeenth century to the present day. The exhibition is the widest-ranging on the subject to date and includes over 100 works by artists such as J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, John Martin, Eduardo Paolozzi, Rachel Whiteread and Tacita Dean.
Jane and Louise Wilson
Azeville2006
John Constable
Sketch for 'Hadleigh Castle'
Patrick Caulfield
Ruins 1964
Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi (after Delacroix) 1963
Tate Britain
4 March - 18 May 2014
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