News Item: 00014

22nd Jan 2007

Save The Blue Rigi

Source: http://www.tate.org.uk

The Art Fund is appealing to the public for money to help Tate Britain acquire Turner's The Blue Rigi. The watercolour was sold in the summer to a private collector abroad for a record £5.8 million, but its export has been delayed by the government to allow a gallery in this country time to raise the money to buy it.

Tate needs to find a total of £4.9 million (taking account of tax remission), and has allocated a record £2 million of its own funds towards the price. On 22 January, The Art Fund added £500,000 - one of our largest ever grants - and announced we would run a public appeal with Tate to raise money.

We have until 20 March to raise the remaining £2.4 million. We hope to raise at least £300,000 from the public via this website and by phone and postal donations. If this target is achieved, we believe Tate will be within striking distance of closing the deal.

JMW Turner (1775-1851) is perhaps the greatest painter this country has ever produced, and The Blue Rigi is one of the finest watercolours from an extraordinary period of creativity towards the end of the artist's life. Despite holding the Turner bequest, the national collection at Tate contains none of the finished Swiss watercolours from this period, of which the three Rigis are outstanding examples.