Sunny Afternoon, Kelvingrove

Open edition with printed signature. Paper size 306 x 297 mm.  Image size 250 x 250 mm

I came upon this view one sunny day while walking in the west end of Glasgow and was inspired to paint the scene. The view shows Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the foreground with the University of Glasgow in the background. One of the beautiful black, cast iron street lights, typical of this area, can be seen in the foreground. 

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum opened in 1901 and is one of Scotland’s most popular museums. Its vast collection includes Natural History, Egyptian antiquities, architecture, Scottish history, mediaeval arms and armoury and a section on the history of Glasgow. It also houses one of Europe’s great civic art collections including Scottish, European, African, Asian and Oceanic fine and decorative arts. 

Kelvingrove went through a massive £27 million restoration before it opened again to the public in 2016. The collections were split in two main parts  during the re-organisation - Life and Expression. The Life Galleries feature Natural History, Human History and Prehistory and the Expression Galleries include the Fine Art Collections.  There are 22 galleries displaying over 8,000 objects with famous paintings 
including Christ of St John on the Cross by Salvador Dali. 

The University of Glasgow, which can be seen in the background of the painting, was founded by charter from Pope Nicholas V in 1451. It is the second oldest university in Scotland after St Andrews and the fourth oldest in the English speaking world. As one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom, Glasgow is one of only eight institutions to award undergraduate master’s degrees in certain disciplines.