Famous Constable painting goes on display

The exhibition opens on Friday at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

One of John Constable's most famous paintings is on display in Bristol.

The Hay Wain is the centrepiece of the National Treasures: Truth to Nature exhibition at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, which opened on Friday and will close on 1 September.

The Hay Wain has been loaned from the National Gallery to celebrate the London museum's 200th anniversary.

Alexandra Kavanagh, head of national touring exhibitions at the National Gallery, said: “We are so excited to see this display bring a fresh perspective to The Hay Wain, and particularly see its themes echoed alongside contemporary installations.

Painted by Constable in 1821, The Hay Wain is an English landscape painting.

Bristol audiences will be able to see it up-close and in the context of other landscape paintings, including 11 oil sketches by Constable, on loan from the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The exhibition will explore the meaning of landscape, how artists historically have considered humanity’s relationship to nature, and how landscape art today is responding to the climate crisis, class, LGBT identity, colonialism and migration.

Julia Carver, curator at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, said: “It has been an honour to work on the Truth to Nature exhibition, using The Hay Wain as a starting point to bring together pieces that deal with our human response to nature and the land."

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