DK Survey Results
Nation's favourite artist revealed
To celebrate the publication of Art: The Definitive Visual Guide (DK/£30), Dorling Kindersley and The Bridgeman Art Library have been running a survey on Britain's favourite artists, paintings, themes and movements. The results reveal interesting findings when it comes to the UK's artistic tastes.
France-v-Italy, The Waterlily Pond-v-Mona Lisa
The findings of the survey, with over 1000 respondents, reveal Claude Monet won the nation's favourite painting category. The Waterlily Pond stormed ahead with 15% of the votes cast, closely followed by Pablo Picasso's Guernica (13%) and by Edvard Munch's The Scream (12%). The Kiss by Gustav Klimt was another popular nomination scoring 5%
Surprisingly, The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci came last in the category (2%), despite luring millions of visitors to see her at the Louvre every year following the movie release of The Da Vinci Code. Proof that perhaps, as famous as she is, her apparent beauty does not always live up to expectations.
Rolf Harris is more popular as an artist than Damien Hirst
Rolf Harris scored ahead of Marc Quinn and Damien Hirst. Although Hirst's recent auction at Sotheby's brought in a record total of £70.5m, it seems that everyone's favourite antipodean is more popular in the artistic stakes. However, the father of Impressionism, Claude Monet won with 17% of the vote, and Vincent van Gogh came a close second with 15%. Other popular nominations included Salvador Dali and Gustav Klimt, followed by Mark Rothko and Caravaggio.
The Kiss, 1907-08 (oil on canvas) Constable unable to catch Banksy
Hard to believe, but perhaps indicative of today's celebrity culture, Banksy came out on top as the nation's favourite British artist with a fifth of the vote, beating such luminaries as JMW Turner (16%) and David Hockney (13%). The results found that Banksy is twice as popular as John Constable (10%), LS Lowry (10%) and Henry Moore (9%), and four times as popular as Tracey Emin. Other popular nominations were Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Classical-v-Modern, the debate continues
It comes as no surprise then that Impressionism is the nation's favourite art movement with a fifth of the vote, meaning that it is twice as popular as Abstract Art, Pop Art and the Pre-Raphaelites (10% each). Surrealism was the second most popular art movement, whereas Mannerism and Neo-Classicism were not popular at all (1% each). In the "other" category, 14% voted for the Renaissance (surely a period of art history rather than an art movement) and 9% for Postmodernism.
Nobody loves the children
Landscape is the run away favourite genre in art amongst well over a third of respondents, three times more popular than the theme of Love. This is followed closely by Portraits (28%). The theme that comes last in the survey is Children with only 1%.
Over the last 20 years, the top selling images have barely changed. Certain trends will always be influential. For example, Klimt's The Kiss was Bridgeman's best selling image this year and helped enormously by a successful exhibition in Tate Liverpool. However, perennial favourites including Monet, van Gogh, the Pre-Raphaelite and Impressionist movements remain as strong as they were when I set up the library over 30 years ago. The power of the media makes Banksy into a household name just as demand for Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper increased dramatically with the publication of The Da Vinci Code. I think the results of our best seller list and the DK survey are testament to the power of radical art; both Banksy and Impressionism widening the boundaries of our perception of what art can be and what art can do.
Harriet Bridgeman