Women artists from the 17th century to the present day will be displayed at Tate Britain when the flagship gallery unveils the first comprehensive rehang of its collections for 10 years in May.
More than 800 works by more than 350 artists will feature at the gallery on the banks of the River Thames, including old favourites, recent discoveries and new commissions.
Women artists will be better represented than ever before, Tate said. As part of its commitment to diversifying its collections, great female artists from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries – including some never seen at Tate before – will be given prominent positions.
They include a portrait from 1650-55 by Joan Carlile, thought to be the first woman in Britain to work as a professional oil painter. It was acquired by Tate in 2016.
There are also watercolours painted by Emily Sargent, the sister of the much better-known John Singer Sargent. Her work was largely hidden until 1998, more than 60 years after her death, when a family member discovered a forgotten trunk containing 440 of her watercolours. Tate acquired the watercolours, painted on Emily’s travels to north Africa, in 2021.
Half the contemporary artists on display in the rehung galleries will be women, including Bridget Riley, Tracey Emin, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami and Lydia Ourahmane.
Polly Staple, Tate’s director of collection, British art, said: “Tate Britain’s new displays will embody our commitment to expanding the canon and diversifying British art history. In recent years, we have brought so many incredible works into Tate’s collection and visitors will soon be able to see these new acquisitions hung alongside more familiar and much-loved classics.”
More than 100 works by JMW Turner will be on show, and there will be rooms devoted to key figures in art history such as William Blake, John Constable and Henry Moore.
A number of complex, large-scale works made from unusual materials will be on show, such as the eight tonnes of rice used in Vong Phaophanit’s Neon Rice Field, and 2,000 flowers that make up Anya Gallaccio’s Preserve ‘beauty’.
T11829. Installation photographed whilst on display in the Tanks at TM. 2019- 2020. As part of the Impermanence exhibit. Photograph: Matt Greenwood/Photo © Tate (Matt Greenwood)
The rehang will accommodate 70 works acquired by Tate in the past five years, including Tudor portraits, Georgian battle scenes, and modern works by Derek Jarman, Kim Lim and Donald Locke. A series of photographs capturing 21st-century British life by the young, non-binary artist Rene Matić, will be displayed.
Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain, said: “When our new displays open on 23 May, visitors will be able to explore 500 years of revolutionary changes in art, culture and society, culminating in new work by some of Britain’s most exciting contemporary artists.
“We will celebrate the very best of British art and show how it speaks to us, challenges us, and inspires us.”
• This article was amended on 16 February 2023 to clarify some personal information.
