Art in the North East QQQQ

Angel of the North, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Sunderland Art Gallery

Stop to see Antony Gormley's iconic work. Britain's largest sculpture, created by Gormley in 1998, is among the country's most famous works of public modern art. Assembled on the site of a former colliery, it recalls the industrial heritage of the region as its open arms welcome visitors to Tyneside.

Admire the striking modern work at the Baltic Centre which is housed in a landmark industrial building beside the River Tyne in Gateshead. Just over a decade old, the international Baltic Centre has displayed modern works by Damien Hirst, George Shaw and Yoko Ono. It also organised the 27th Turner prize in 2011, the first time the award had been held outside the Tate.

Sunderland Museum houses a collection of British art from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Edward Burra, L S Lowry and Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The museum's main emphasis is on the region's natural history and geology, as well as its ship building and coal mining legacy. It also has the largest collection of Sunderland lustreware pottery in the world.

Shipley Art Gallery and Laing Art Gallery

The Laing Art Gallery is set in the heart of the Newcastle. The gallery is home to a number of British paintings and watercolours from the 18th century to the present day. Works by Burne-Jones, Reynolds and Turner are represented, as well as those by the Northumberland artist John Martin including his powerful ‘The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah’. There is also an interactive display of 400 years of regional art and craft.

The north east's arts and crafts are celebrated in all their glory at the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead, which was created in 1917 when solicitor Joseph Shipley bequeathed 504 paintings. The collection has since grown considerably and now contains nearly 800 paintings and over 700 exhibits of ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, textiles and furniture. The portrayal of the Blaydon Races by William C Irving is perhaps the most famous of the gallery’s many paintings, which also includes pieces by Dutch and Flemish old masters.

Durham Cathedral and the Bowes Museum

Visit one of the world's finest Norman buildings, Durham Cathedral, during a walking tour of this medieval city. The cathedral's nave vault is supported by massive columns while the pointed arches across it are among the earliest examples and show how the Romanesque style developed into Gothic. The 12th-century Galilee Chapel, at the west end, is the resting place of the Venerable Bede (673-735AD), the theologian who wrote the famous Ecclesiastical History of England. His bones were brought to Durham in 1022 and laid in this tomb in the 14th century. You also view the exterior of the nearby Norman Castle. William the Conqueror ordered its construction in 1072 as a ‘motte and bailey’ castle. It was rebuilt in stone by Bishop le Puiset in the 12th century, and transformed from a fortress into a comfortable residence by later prince-bishops. It is now used by Durham University. 

Please note: the city of Durham sits on a hill and your walking tour will involve walking along sometimes steeply sloping streets and over uneven surfaces including cobbles.

Later head for the Bowes Museum, designed in the style of a magnificent French chateau and built by John Bowes and his wife, the French artist Joséphine Benoîte-Coffin-Chevallier. Throughout their marriage they collected a staggering 15,000 objects, succeeding in their goal to create a world-class museum in John's ancestral home of Teesdale. The museum is also well known for its impressive archaeological galleries. Among the exhibits you will see European fine and decorative arts, a suite of English period rooms and collections of paintings, ceramics, fashion, and musical instruments. Don't miss the astonishing, clockwork silver swan.