The Art of the Sublime

In 2010 Tate Britain staged a major display on the theme of the sublime. Titled Art and the Sublime, it included nearly forty works in Tate’s collection and explored the idea of the sublime in landscapes and seascapes from the Romantic era and later Victorian period. Other sources of inspiration included Biblical themes ranging from the world’s creation to the Last Judgement, and literary scenes from Milton and Shakespeare.

To coincide with the display Scottish artist Douglas Gordon was commissioned to create a site-specific installation. Made up of over eighty phrases and sentences, it was called Pretty much every word written, spoken, heard, overheard from 1989 ... As the title suggests, the origins and style of the texts were wide-ranging, both personal and shared, and referenced sources ranging from the Bible to the Rolling Stones.

Read about the artworks and explore records of the displays.