LS Lowry's masterpiece 'Going to the Match' to be displayed in Blackpool gallery

LS Lowry’s masterpiece Going to the Match has left its home at The Lowry, Salford and begun a year-long tour of five North West venues

The tour started in December 2023 at Gallery Oldham where the painting will be on display until February 24, 2024.

LS Lowry’s painting will then tour to: The Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, The National Football Museum, Manchester and finally Bury Art Museum.

The 1953 Lowry painting features football supporters streaming into Burnden Park, the original home of Bolton Wanderers FC.

Lowry spent much of his life painting people going about their everyday lives – going to work, to school, to the park and here, going to see a football match.

Chief Executive of The Lowry, Julia Fawcett O.B.E. said: "Going to the Match is a masterpiece and for that reason alone, it was important we were able to secure it so that future generations could come and see it, for free, forever.

"Lowry was a great observer of ordinary people, particularly in the industrial landscape and the picture captures that pre-match expectation and excitement.

"It was so important to us that an artwork which speaks so directly to the people of the North was brought permanently back to where it belongs.

"Thanks to the wonderful generosity of The Law Family Charitable Foundation we were able to purchase the painting for the City of Salford, and we look forward to returning that generosity by sharing the painting with other venues and communities across the North West of England over the coming months and years."

Most of Lowry’s crowds, as in Going to the Match, are painted against a backdrop of Lancashire's industrial landscape.

In fact the majority of fans shown in the painting would probably have been factory workers.

Visitors today still see themselves in this work, as the shared experience of going to a football match is in many ways the same as it was in the 1950s.

Jen Cleary, Director North, Arts Council England said: "It was a moment to celebrate when The Lowry successfully secured Going to the Match last year and I'm delighted that we are supporting it to tour the North West through our National Lottery Project Grants programme.

"Lowry is an artist so closely embedded in the region and it is fantastic that people will be able to see the painting for free in their own communities and respond to it using their own creativity."

The painting's iconic status has thrilled visitors of all ages: those who love art, those who love football and anyone who loves the unique excitement of a 'match day.’'

The tour will mean this painting can be enjoyed by the widest possible audiences across the region. 

Going to the Match will be a focus and inspiration for creative workshops, projects in schools, family days and commissions to create new artistic responses to it.

Each venue will work with their own audiences, local schools and communities as well as their own local football clubs to develop a programme of events that will reach and engage as many people as possible.

The tour has been boosted by a £95,000 grant from Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme, and each venue will mount an extensive learning and engagement programme, tailored to their own local audiences and football fans.

The campaign to purchase Going to the Match

Going to the Match had been on public display at The Lowry since it opened in 2000, courtesy of a loan by the then owners the Professional Footballers Association (PFA).

However, following the decision by the PFA in 2022 to sell Going to the Match, there were no guarantees that any future owners would share the commitment to keeping the work on public view and free to access.

The painting held a special place not only as part of Lowry’s legacy but also in the hearts and minds of visitors, particularly in the north of England.

It was for this reason that The Lowry – already home to the world’s largest public collection of paintings and drawings by LS Lowry - was determined to ensure that it remained available for the public to see, for free.

The Lowry launched an extensive media campaign to bring the impending sale to public attention, making the case that the work should remain on public view.

There was a fear that the painting could be acquired by a private collection – potentially outside of the UK - and not be seen again.

Following the high-profile campaign, Going to the Match was purchased at a record £7.8 million by The Lowry in Salford for The Lowry Collection at the Modern British & Irish Art Sale at Christie’s in London in October 2022, thanks to the generous support of The Law Family Charitable Foundation.  

Going to the Match came home and was returned to public display at The Lowry in November 2022, and now The Lowry is delighted to be working with venues across the North West to ensure that the piece can be enjoyed by audiences across the region.