CONVERSATIONS WITH THE COLLECTION
28 September 2022 – 2025
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One), 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
0131 624 6200
Admission free
#ScotModernConversations
A major exhibition of rarely seen artworks from Scotland’s national collection brings an abundance of new discoveries for visitors to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One).
The exhibition, titled Conversations with the Collection, takes over almost the whole of the top floor of the gallery. Curators have been busy delving into the riches of the nation’s collection of the modern and contemporary art to bring to light rarely displayed yet fascinating artworks and stories.
They have been inspired to find bold juxtapositions and visual similarities between artworks, styles and movements to offer a fresh take on how works of art can be presented and share the stories they tell. These can be enjoyed by all for free from 28 September 2022 with the art on the walls refreshed throughout the exhibition’s run.
Talking points have been encouraged and explored by covering a wide mix of techniques, processes and approaches, demonstrated across sculpture, painting, photography and more
. Iconic works by famous artists such as Anish Kapoor, Sarah Lucas, Jackson Pollock, Tracey Emin and Cindy Sherman are on display alongside those by brilliant but lesser-known figures including Carole Gibbons and Catherine Yarrow.
Highlights include:
• A stunning ‘Madonna’ lithograph by Edvard Munch, on long loan from a private collection.
• From ARTIST ROOMS, striking photographic portraits by Robert Mapplethorpe of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his underwear and a topless shot of punk rock musician Smutty Smith.
• A vibrant still life by celebrated Scottish artist Anne Redpath.
• A series of colour woodcuts of vivid flower prints by the much-loved British artist Mabel Royds.
• Saturn by Helen Frankenthaler, the only major Abstract Expressionist painting by a female artist in the collection, on display for the first time in ten years.
Curated by Emma Gillespie, Leila Riszko and Stephanie Straine, Conversations with the Collection shares accessible and alternative perspectives on art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, without using jargon or art-historical terminology. With more than 100 fascinating artworks waiting to be discovered, the curators hope that this approach will offer visitors a new way of seeing and understanding modern and contemporary art through key ideas and issues of our times.
Conversations with the Collection presents artworks in unexpected arrangements; for example, a gouache made by the Indian artist Jamini Roy in 1930s Kolkata will be placed alongside a lithograph by Edvard Munch printed in 1890s Berlin and a pastel drawing made by Carole Gibbons in 1960s Glasgow, to encourage discussion about shared affinities between artists from different time periods and geographical locations.
Each room explores a unique theme or topic, taking on issues such as sexuality, gender roles, and racial stereotypes; the evolution of the traditionally feminine domestic sphere in the modern and contemporary art world, and creative approaches to working sustainably as reframed by the climate emergency.
Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Stephanie Straine, said: “Conversations with the Collection brings together Scottish and international modern and contemporary art in celebration of the ideas and inspirations that drive artists to make work.
“With open-ended creativity at the heart of this big exhibition, we hope our visitors will feel inspired to rediscover their collection.”