Tricycle by Michael Craig-Martin

Responding to the history of the Foundling Hospital and the emotional resonance of the tokens, a painting of a single tricycle hangs in the Museum’s Picture Gallery. Craig-Martin’s painting offers an imaginative point of departure in a room otherwise dominated by portraits of the Hospital’s governors and benefactors. In a room notable for its lack of reference to the foundling children, Tricycle embodies both the joy and sadness of childhood and reminds us of the thousands of young lives who passed through the Foundling Hospital.