Top 5

Top 5 Eggs

Eggs aren't just for Easter! Feast your eyes on five eggs (of the non-chocolate variety) from Tate's collection

1. A nest of eggs

William Henry Hunt
Primroses and Bird’s Nest
Tate

Look at this perfect picture of spring. Artist William Henry Hunt has painted a delicate mossy nest which is nestled in the roots of a tree. Some bright yellow primroses add to its happy spring look. Can you believe that this painting is only 27cm wide and 18cm high? That's tiny. I wonder how he managed to make all the details so perfect?

2. A string of eggs

Pierre Roy
A Naturalist’s Study (1928)
Tate

This picture of eggs is very different. Rather than showing eggs in their natural environment, a string of colourful eggs hangs in a mysterious room of objects. What other objects can you see in the room? The artist, Pierre Roy, was a surrealist artist. Surrealists often liked to put strange objects together to create weird, mysterious images.

3. An egg with holes?

Dame Barbara Hepworth
Oval Sculpture (No. 2) (1943, cast 1958)
Tate

Barbara Hepworth © Bowness

Artist Barbara Hepworth used shapes from nature to make her sculptures. This sculpture looks like an egg and it's smooth porous surface is like an egg's shell. Can you guess what it is made out of? Hepworth was also inspired by other natural things like shells and caves, and liked exploring both the outside and inside of forms. Maybe this explains the holes.

4. Eggs in a basket

Sir Cedric Morris, Bt
The Eggs (1944)
Tate

© The estate of Sir Cedric Morris

The artist Cedric Morris has painted this basket of eggs in a plain room, so they are the centre of attention. They look a bit like chocolate eggs with their delicious colours don't they? In fact, they are eggs from his own chickens. In the Second World War when food was rationed, Cedric Morris grew vegetables and kept chickens. He often made his home-grown food the star of his paintings!

5. Egg-tastic!

Martin Kippenberger  The Eggman and his Outriggers 1997

Martin Kippenberger
The Eggman and his Outriggers 1997
Tate
© Estate Martin Kippenberger/Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne

Wow! I wouldn't like to encounter the chicken that laid this egg! This poster was made for an exhibition in 1997. Can you guess what the exhibition was about?

That's right EGGS!

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