Summer 2026 Spotlight Tours Each tour highlights one aspect of the iconic Living Area collection, from artist, to region, or medium. Come along to learn of the stories behind our objects and discover unexpected connections between works! Spotlight Tours include a hot drink and cake in The Terrace, followed by a tailored tour of the Living Area.
Please arrive from 10.30am to enjoy refreshments before the tour begins at 11.00am. Tickets cost £7.50 and pre-booking is essential. Metallica – Art in Heavy Metal Thursday 25 June Copper, bronze, brass, iron, steel, silver and gold – bent, hammered, cast and welded into art Metal has been used for millennia to make utilitarian and artistic objects. Technological improvements have allowed artists to use an increasing variety of metals and alloys. We investigate a selection of metal pieces: who made them, how were they produced, what inspired their production and what do they say?
With volunteer guide Andrew Tarbuck. Are You Sitting Comfortably? Tuesday 30 June Giacometti and Bacon – the visual existentialists This tour considers how Giacometti and Bacon work in very different ways to convey the alienation, isolation and identity loss characteristic of post-war existentialist thought. Giacometti is concerned with consciousness and presence, his fragile subjects seem isolated and distant.
Bacon’s visceral approach shows his sitters trapped by psychological trauma and inner violence. With volunteer guide Paul Moss. White Tuesday 14 July White is the colour of… White represents purity, innocence, cleanliness, and peace, but is also used as a neutral-colour canvas to establish form and emotion. White paint, marble, ceramics, limestone, and plaster are widely used by sculptors.
Looking at mostly contemporary work we will consider how/whether form and lighting contribute to these emotional states. With volunteer guides Andy Maule and Jenni Brace. Shell Power Tuesday 21 July Why are shells so significant in art? Shells have been used throughout history in art: their translucence, beauty and fragility often signifying spiritual or protective qualities.
We will look at how these found objects have been used by artists to produce important works of art. With volunteer guides Sue Hull and Georgie Livingstone. And Did You Know…? Friday 31 July Same artist, differing media, different art forms The Sainsbury Centre collection contains several examples of artworks, in different media/formats by the same artist. Come and explore more from artists you may think you know – Leonora Carrington, Elisabeth Frink, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Lucy Rie and Antonio Saura.
With volunteer guides Julie Roy and Lynne Middlemiss Francis Bacon Thursday 6 August An acquired taste In seeking a new way to depict the human figure and capture likeness in portraiture, Bacon has always polarised opinion. In Robert Sainsbury’s words, “It’s not the business of portraits to look ...
Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ
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