Artscape

The Artscape trail

Artscape: Bringing Art to the Streets of Bridgwater

Artscape is turning the town of Bridgwater into an open-air gallery. This unique public art trail features high-quality reproductions of some of the most iconic artworks from the National Gallery in London, generously donated to the project to help bring culture directly into the heart of the community.

But Artscape is more than just an art display. It’s a creative vision born out of Seed’s desire to surprise and delight local people in their everyday lives. Whether you’re walking to work, waiting at a bus stop, or popping into a café, you might suddenly find yourself face to face with a Turner, a Van Gogh, or a Botticelli.

By removing art from the traditional gallery setting and placing it in everyday locations, Artscape invites moments of reflection, connection, and wonder where people least expect it. The idea is simple but powerful: to make world-class art a part of daily life, with no ticket required!

The project draws inspiration from the National Gallery’s 2007 “Grand Tour” and continues its spirit of accessibility and cultural inclusion. Seed has brought that concept to Somerset, reimagining Bridgwater as a canvas where people can engage with masterpieces on their own terms.

 

Artscape seeks to reimagine everyday public spaces as captivating galleries, bringing high-quality replicas of iconic masterpieces from renowned artists to everyday life

Imagine strolling through a park and encountering a vivid reproduction of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers or entering a post office and finding yourself face-to-face with a Turner.

The replicas from The National Gallery, were meticulously crafted to capture the essence of the originals to bring art out of the confines of the gallery and into the lives of the public. giving access to culture and creativity. By making masterpieces accessible in unexpected places, Artscape hopes to bridge the gap between art lovers and those who might not usually visit galleries, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary!

See the gallery below for all the masterworks featured in Artscape. Click on each image for more information and full-resolution downloads.

The Fighting Temeraire – William Turner
On Display at West Bow House

What 3 words: swaps.devoured.grocers

TA6 3RH, on the rear wall of the garages of West Bow House

90.7 × 121.6 cm

The painting depicts the 98-gun HMS Temeraire, one of the last second-rate ships of the line to have played a role in the Battle of Trafalgar, being towed up the Thames by a paddle-wheel steam tug in 1838, towards its final berth in Rotherhithe to be broken up for scrap

Sunflowers, fourth version by Vincent van Gogh
On Display at The Post Office

What 3 words: clothed.boards.magnets

92.1 × 73 cm

The fourth version of the painting was attacked on October 14, 2022 by environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign, who threw tinned tomato soup at it, while it was on display at National Gallery in London, before gluing their hands to the wall.

Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife by Jan van Eyck
On Display at Meads Court

What 3 words: skins.assume.slowly

Side of the community hall TA6 6DE

82.2 × 60 cm

An oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dated 1434. It is a full-length double portrait, believed to depict the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their residence at the Flemish city of Bruges.

Saint Michael triumphant over the Devil by Joan Bartolomé Bermejo
On display at Slate Cafe

What 3 words: companies.ballroom.hospitals

179.7 × 81.9 cm

A saint clad in shining armour raises his sword to strike a hideous demon beneath his feet. This is the Archangel Michael fighting the devil, as described in the Book of Revelation.

Bacchus and Ariadne (1522–1523)  oil on canvas by Titian
On display at Angel Place Shopping Centre

What 3 words: wide.wobbles.diverged

176.5 × 191 cm

Bacchus, god of wine, emerges with his followers from the landscape to the right. Falling in love with Ariadne on first sight, he leaps from his chariot, drawn by two cheetahs, towards her.

The Water Lily Pond, Claude Monet 1840 – 1926
On display at Purple Spoon cafe YMCA

what 3 words: suave.wisdom.froth

88.3 × 93.1 cm

In 1893 Monet bought a plot of land next to his house in Giverny. He had already planted a colourful flower garden, but now he wanted to create a water garden ‘both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint’

The Hay Wain, John Constable 1776 – 1837
On display at The bus stop on Mount Street Bridgwater

what 3 words: brick.converter.speeding

The title, The Hay Wain, refers to the wooden wagon (wain) used for transporting cut and dried meadow grass (hay). The empty wagon is making its way through the shallow water to cross to the meadow on the other side where haymakers are at work.

Self Portrait at the Age of 34 by Rembrandt
On display at Purple Spoon Go on The High Street

What 3 words: nightlife.date.waged

91 × 75 cm

This is one of dozens of self portraits by Rembrandt. We see the artist in confident pose – self-assured, dressed in expensive-looking fur and velvet, his hat laced with jewels.

After the Bath, Woman drying herself  by Edgar Degas 1834 – 1917
On display at Bridgy Gallery

What 3 words: confined.

number.riverside

103.5 × 98.5 cm

The ungainly but authentic-looking pose makes it easy to believe that Degas was present in the woman’s room, catching her before she could straighten herself.

Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist Caravaggio
On display at Slate Cafe

What 3 words ///amid.ports.haunt

91.5 × 106.7 cm

This is a late work by Caravaggio, probably painted towards the end of his life. He has reduced the story to its essentials, focusing on the human tragedy and conveying the scene’s emotional power through a restricted range of colour, pronounced chiaroscuro and dramatic gesture.

 

Mr and Mrs Andrews Thomas Gainsborough
On display at Dunwear House

Westonzoyland Road TA6 5BP

What 3 words ///vine.ruins.fans

69.8 × 119.4 cm

This portrait of Mr Robert (1725–1806) and Mrs Frances Andrews (about 1732–1780) is the masterpiece of Gainsborough’s early career. It has been described as a ‘triple portrait’ – of Robert Andrews, his wife and his land.

Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan Hans Holbein
On display at The Engine Room

What 3 words: level.umpires.albums

179.1 × 82.6 cm

This elegant young woman is Christina of Denmark, the youngest daughter of King Christian of Denmark. In 1538, King Henry VIII of England was looking for a fourth wife, after the death of Jane Seymour the previous year. As Henry’s official court artist, Holbein was sent to Brussels to capture the 16-year-old Christina’s likeness.

A Young Woman standing at a Virginal Johannes Vermeer 1632 – 1675
On display at Cafe Karma

What 3 words: clouds.cursing.factually

51.7 × 45.2 cm

The young woman at the keyboard holds our eye with a direct gaze. The empty chair suggests she is expecting someone and the large painting of a naked Cupid, the god of erotic love, on the wall behind her may be a signal that she is waiting for her lover.

 

 

Venus and Mars Sandro Botticelli about 1445 – 1510
On display at Mingle Cafe Bridgwater

What 3 words: assures.stems.fatherly

69.2 × 173.4 cm

Venus, the goddess of love, looks over at her lover Mars. She is alert and dignified, while he – the god of war – is utterly lost in sleep. He doesn‘t even notice the chubby satyr (half child, half goat) blowing a conch shell in his ear.

The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb) Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
on Display at Bridgy Gallery

What 3 words: confined.number.riverside

161.7 × 149.9 cm

This is one of perhaps only three surviving panel paintings by the great Florentine artist Michelangelo.

An Allegory with Venus and Cupid Bronzino 1503 – 1572
On display at the rear of the Palace Nightclub

What 3 words: sketch.specifies.backed

146.1 × 116.2 cm

Venus, goddess of love, steals an arrow from her son Cupid’s quiver as she kisses him on the lips.

The picture was probably sent to King Francis I of France as a gift from Cosimo I de’ Medici, ruler of Florence, who employed Bronzino as a court painter.

Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula Claude 1604/5? – 1682
On Display at Bridgwater Docks

Bowerings Animal Feeds Provender Mill Docks, Bridgwater TA6 3EX

What Three Words location: momentous.sofa.sulk

 

112.9 × 149 cm

According to the legend, Saint Ursula, a Christian princess from Britain or Brittany, made a holy pilgrimage to Rome with 11,000 virgins. Dressed in yellow and holding a flag with a red cross, Ursula watches her companions embark on their return voyage. They carry bows and arrows, weapons that represent their death later in the story.

A Wheatfield, with Cypresses Vincent van Gogh 1853 – 1890
On Display at Court Street Bridgwater

What 3 words: bachelor.octagon.forgives

72.1 × 90.9 cm

Van Gogh painted several versions of A Wheatfield, with Cypresses during the summer of 1889, while he was a patient in the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Paul de Mausole, in the village of St-Rémy in the south of France.

 

Surprised! Henri Rousseau 1844 – 1910
On display at Bridgy Gallery
What 3 words: confined.number.riverside
129.8 × 161.9 cm
oil on canvas
Tiger in a Tropical Storm or Surprised! is an 1891 oil-on-canvas painting by Henri Rousseau. It was the first of the jungle paintings for which the artist is chiefly known. It shows a tiger, illuminated by a flash of lightning, preparing to pounce on its prey in the midst of a raging gale.

Artscape Map

 

In June 2007 full-size reproductions of some of the National Gallery’s best loved paintings appeared overnight on the streets of London.

Taking inspiration from the project we want people to be able to enjoy these artworks without having to travel to London,  to bring the artwork to Bridgwater. Offering the chance to pique the public’s curiosity and creativity in the way that art can.