Top 5

Top 5 Blues

Feeling blue isn't all bad! Get some creative inspiration from blue artworks in Tate's collection

1. Blue acrobats

Marc Chagall
The Blue Circus (1950)
Tate

© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2024

The colour blue can be playful and magical! Marc Chagall loved the circus, especially the acrobats.

This artwork is chaotic and colourful. There are lots of costumes and makeup on the characters in this painting!

Think about what outfits make you feel magical and powerful!

2. Blue trees

Helmut Federle
Angkor, Cambodia, 1994 (1999–2000)
Tate

© Helmut Federle

This photograph is of a place called Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It looks amazing doesn't it? It looks like nature has taken over that temple! Helmut Federle travelled to lots of places to take pictures of trees. Is it weird to see a blue tree? Do you think it is day time or night time in this image? It's funny how changing the colour of a photograph really changes it!

3. Blue chairs

Prunella Clough
Colour photograph of blue and pink plastic chairs stacked up outside a shop ([1990s])
Tate Archive

© The estate of Ann Robin-Banks

We really like these blue and pink chairs! Have you ever looked at the chairs in your classroom and thought about making an artwork out of them? You can make art out of lots of different everyday objects...like spoons or plant pots.

Prunella Clough was an English artist who liked looking for abstract shapes in the things she saw around her. She used these shapes to make her paintings. What objects can you see around you that are just made up of simple shapes? Like triangles or circles?

4. Blue building

Graham Sutherland OM
Sketchbook 34 ([c.1961–2])
Tate Archive

© The estate of Graham Sutherland

Can you guess what this picture was drawn with? Here's a clue – I bet you have one in your pencil case.

A blue biro! Have you ever sketched with one? Graham Sutherland went to Venice to draw this building. He drew it really fast. What could you draw in 10 minutes? 5 minutes? 1 minute?

Graham Sutherland is mainly known for his surreal artworks. How would you change this sketch into a surreal drawing?

5. Blue crystals

Roger Hiorns
Untitled (2006)
Tate

© Roger Hiorns

Roger Hiorns covers rooms and objects with copper sulphate solution and when the liquid evaporates you get these amazing blue crystals! Wow!

What do you think the surface feels like? If you looked at this closely, what would you see? Do you think it's blue underneath? What ordinary object could you make sparkle and glow like this artwork?

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