The power of art

London – The Tate Britain’s latest campaign shows there is truth in the adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.

• The Millbank-based art gallery is celebrating three of its most famous paintings with a new campaign
• The posters by agency Grey London attempt to make the works culturally relevant to today’s audience 

In a new series of posters, soon to be displayed on the London Underground as well as in the press and online, Tate Britain is attempting to appeal to the Millennial and Generation D audience. Shunning imagery in favour of emotionally charged copy, the new campaign expresses both the inner turmoil of the artists and how some of its most famous art pre-empted many cultural movements such as the selfie or gay rights.

‘You’re a gay man./ Sex is still a punishable offence./ Love perhaps feels the same way,’ begins Triptych by Francis Bacon, which puts the audience into the fragile mental state of the artist who suffered a series of traumatic events before painting his masterpiece.

‘Art is moving, but not just because of its aesthetic. It’s the narrative behind the art that moves us the most,’ says Nils Leonard, chairman and chief creative officer at Grey London. ‘This first campaign is a taste of the new approach we’ll be taking to unlock the power of art through our communications.’