The Collection has grown and developed over the last 120 years to be an eclectic and inspiring collection of paintings, prints, sculptures and audio visual installations. Discover interesting and quirky facts about artworks within the Collection.

This sculpture was one of four works that were commissioned from artists in 2008 for the Ministry of Justice in London. Standing tall at an impressive 13.5 metres high, Conrad Shawcross’s work makes a real impact in the atrium!

Conrad Shawcross, Axiom, 2009, wood sculpture on display in the Ministry of Justice, London © Conrad Shawcross / image: Crown Copyright

This was one of four works that were specially commissioned in 2008 for the newly refurbished Ministry of Justice building in central London. Pieced together around the interior atrium of the building, brass letters form a 45 metre long poetic narrative referring to the construction of the building and its modernist history.

Martin Boyce, Paper Leaves and Concrete Trees, 2008 © image: Crown Copyright

Believed to have been painted some point between 1527 and 1550, this portrait of Henry VIII stands out as the oldest artwork in the Collection. Some scholars believe this is one of the earliest surviving portraits of the Tudor king.

Anglo-Flemish School, King Henry VIII (1491-1547), c.1527-1550 © image: Crown Copyright

The Collection curators were over the moon to acquire this portrait by Joan Carlile which is the earliest work by a woman to enter the Collection. It was acquired in 2018, the same year as the centenary of the Representation of the People Act that gave the vote to some women in the UK for the first time.

Joan Carlile, Portrait of a Lady wearing an oyster satin dress, 1650s © image: Crown Copyright

Of course, humour is subjective … but Peter Liversidge’s posters were part of ‘Proposals for the Government Art Collection’, a multi-part work that the Government Art Collection commissioned from the artist in 2017. It was first shown at An Eyeful of Wry, an exhibition exploring humour in art that the Collection curated for the Brynmor Jones Library during Hull City of Culture 2017.

Peter Liversidge, Proposals for the Government Art Collection – joke stack, 2017 © Peter Liversidge

The GAC acquired this tiny sculpture by Peter Saville and Anna Blessman alongside the artists’ In Course of Arrangement work in 2008. A witty nod to the small notices that museums leave in place of an artwork temporarily removed from a display, the notices themselves have been given the status of an artwork.

Peter Saville & Anna Blessmann, Object Removed, 2005 © Peter Saville & Anna Blessman