A giant recreation of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers will be painted at Westgate Oxford this autumn as part of a collaboration between the National Gallery and Global Street Art.
The mural will be unveiled on 01 October at Westgate’s entrance on the corner of Castle Street and Church Lane, marking the first Murals reMastered project to be installed outside London.
The National Gallery launched Murals reMastered as a nationwide programme bringing large-scale recreations of paintings from its collection into public spaces across the UK. Working with Global Street Art, contemporary mural artists reinterpret works from the National Gallery’s collection on streets, building façades and other prominent locations.
For Oxford, the choice of Sunflowers has an additional local connection. The city is home to the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, founded in 1621 and widely recognised as Britain’s oldest botanic garden.
Van Gogh painted seven versions of his Sunflowers between 1888 and 1889. The National Gallery’s version, painted in 1888, is among the artist’s best-known works and is described by the Gallery as one of the most iconic and loved of his paintings.
Westgate’s entrance on the corner of Castle Street and Church Lane
The Oxford mural will take five days to complete, with several artists working on the large-scale recreation before it takes its position at the Westgate entrance.
Paul Gray, deputy director and chief operating officer at the National Gallery, said the Murals reMastered project was intended to find new ways of sharing the Gallery’s collection with audiences across the country.
“The National Gallery’s collection truly belongs to the nation,” he said, adding that the project aims to encourage curiosity and conversation among people who may not otherwise encounter the works.
Phillip Hulme, head of development at Global Street Art, said the project brought classical and contemporary painting together, with the participating mural artists drawing inspiration from works in the National Gallery’s collection.
The mural’s unveiling will be accompanied by a programme of sunflower-themed activities at Westgate Oxford.
On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September, the LEGO Store will host free sunflower-themed Stay & Play sessions. On Saturday 03 and Sunday 04 October, visitors will be able to use sunflower-themed photographic backdrops and take part in craft activities.
A Sunflower Wishes Wall will also invite visitors to write a wish for nature on a seed packet, with the packets subsequently planted as part of a local community initiative.
The programme will also include flower giveaways from Freddie’s Flowers and sunflower seed packets distributed by the Sunflower Society.
The National Gallery’s Murals reMastered programme follows a wider effort by the institution to bring works from its collection to audiences beyond its London home. Its first mural recreated Henri Rousseau’s Surprised! on Jamestown Road in Camden.
Westgate Oxford’s mural therefore brings the national project into the centre of Oxford, turning one of Van Gogh’s most recognisable paintings into a large-scale piece of public art.
