About the artist
Craig-Martin is renowned as both an artist and a teacher. His practice embraces painting, sculpture and printmaking and he is best known for his representations of everyday objects.
A toy for the foundlings
This acquisition was the first major painting to enter the Collection in over 90 years. Craig-Martin created Tricycle in 2016 to temporarily replace Charles Brooking’s large marine painting in the Picture Gallery while it was out on loan. Craig-Martin says of his work:
‘Every familiar object reverberates with references, some shared, some personal. The tricycle, empty and alone, seems to me to embody both the happiness of childhood and the sadness of loss. In this, it echoes the emotional resonance of the tokens left with each of the Foundling children.’
