I always felt that art should be for the masses. If you're lucky enough to live in England (or to be visiting), you can view the world's largest outdoor gallery. Thanks to The National Gallery of Art and Hewlett Packard, The Grand Tour is a brilliant project which places museum masterpieces (reproductions of course...) out in the streets of London for anyone and everyone to view and appreciate.
Over the next twelve weeks they've turned the West End into a giant gallery by lining the streets of Soho, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden with some of the world's most famous paintings.
The map below (which is actually interactive on the site) shows where the paintings hang around town.
If you're more of a free spirit, you can create your own tour by picking the paintings you want to see, and then calling the phone numbers listed at each painting site to get the who, the why, the what and the when*.
All the paintings on The Grand Tour™ are beautiful reproductions produced by our sponsors Hewlett Packard, but you can visit the real thing every day free of charge in the National Gallery collection.
Of course, you may not live in London-or be visiting within the next 12 weeks-- which is why I have pics for you here. The following pics were sent in via digital uploads from cell phones and cameras from various individuals. To see photo credits, as well as the names of these famous paintings, please go to the site.
Who was behind this?:
The Partners
Award-winning brand and design consultancy, The Partners, created the pioneering Grand Tour concept as part of their ongoing partnership with the National Gallery.
As one of Britain's leading brand and design consultancies, The Partners works with many of the world’s most successful organisations, including the BBC, Ford Motor Company, the Maybourne Hotel Group, Astra Zeneca and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Digit
Working alongside The Partners on the development of The Grand Tour, Digit created the interactive on-line presence for the project.
Digit is one of the longest established digital agencies globally. Working with some of the world’s leading brands, Digit creates award winning online environments and content, and more recently ground breaking physical interaction experiences.
Thanks to all these folks:
We would like to thank the dedicated team of professionals who have helped us to create and install the 'works of art' themselves.
Electronic Print Services (EPS)
EPS, produced all of the Grand Tour images on the excellent HP Designjet 10000s, and they mounted and stretched the larger prints onto sub frames, all meeting the exacting standards required for such a prestigious project.
Nielsen Bainbridge and Simon Robinson and Son
Spencer Negus from Nielsen Bainbridge, with Lester and Kevin from Simon Robinson and Son Framing, enjoyed working on this challenging project alongside the other contributors.
Icon Display
Icon Display were involved in the surveys of the picture sites and the installation of the pictures onto many varied surfaces, working through the night to complete the project on time.
Antenna Audio
Antenna Audio worked closely with the National Gallery Curators to produce all the audio recordings for the project.
Thank you to the tenants and owners of all of the premises that have kindly allowed us to hang a 'masterpiece' on their wall
Shaftesbury PLC
David Bieda
Boom Sound Studios
Caffe Nero
Centaur Media Plc
Clear Channel