Alexander Calder, Mobile c.1932. Lent from a private collection 1992. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / DACS, London .
An introduction to some of the best-loved artworks in the Tate collection
We live our lives in colour. Each one of us perceives colour differently, and how we react to colours might depend on our eyesight, our mood or where we are from. Artists often use colour to explore their thoughts or feelings or their place in the world. Artists have tried to expand the way colour is used, from paint to film to new materials. You can see examples in this display and throughout the rest of Tate Modern.
Where Do I Start?
Here are some ideas you can use in Start and the rest of the gallery. You might see artworks that make you question what art is. It could help if you look closely and think about:
- What is your first reaction to the work?
- Why does it make you feel or think like that?
- What is it made of?
- Why has the artist chosen those materials?
- Does the size of the work affect your experience of it?
- Where is the artist from and when did they live? How has this influenced them?
- What do you think the work is about?
- Why don’t you take a photograph of this list, so you can refer to it when you look at the art?
Let us know what you think #TateStart.
Andra Ursuţa, Predators ‘R Us 2020
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artworks in Room two
El Lissitzky, 8. Old Man (Head 2 Steps behind) 1923
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artworks in Room two
El Lissitzky, 10. New Man 1923
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artworks in Room two
Edward Wadsworth, The Port c.1915
Wadsworth’s approach to printmaking was cool and impersonal, deliberately avoiding any suggestion of personal ‘handwriting’. Woodcut is a difficult medium, but the precision he applied to it enabled him to emphasise the ‘machine-like character of his art’. This print resembles the illustrations Wadsworth produced for the Vorticists’ magazine BLAST.
The terrible destruction caused by the first world war (1914-18), the first fully mechanised war, undermined Vorticism’s celebration of the machine. Nevertheless, Wadsworth continued to be fascinated by machinery throughout his life.
Gallery label, July 2008
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artworks in Room two
El Lissitzky, 6. Sportsmen 1923
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artworks in Room two
El Lissitzky, 9. Gravediggers 1923
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artworks in Room two
Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed - The Car has Passed 1913
Ballà was a leading figure in the Italian Futurist group. He believed that the power and speed of machines such as cars were the salient characteristics of the modern age and aimed to express this idea in his work. This painting was originally the right-hand part part of a triptych. The left-hand part of the triptych was called 'Line of Force Landscape' and the central one 'Lines of Force Noise'. The theme of the triptych was the passage of a car along a white road, with green and blue forms, evoking earth and sky, in the background. The pinkish areas in this painting suggest the exhaust fumes left by the passing car.
Gallery label, September 2004
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artworks in Room two
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space 1913, cast 1972
In the early years of the twentieth century, industrialisation swept across Italy. The futurist movement was founded by writers and artists like Umberto Boccioni, who enthused about new inventions such as cars and electricity. In Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, the figure is aerodynamically deformed by speed. Boccioni exaggerated the body’s dynamism so that it embodied the urge towards progress. The sculpture may reflect ideas of the mechanised body that appeared in futurist writings, as well as the ‘superman’ envisaged by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Gallery label, February 2016
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artworks in Room two
El Lissitzky, 7. Troublemaker 1923
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artworks in Room two
Art in this room
Andra Ursuţa
Predators ‘R Us
2020
El Lissitzky
8. Old Man (Head 2 Steps behind)
1923
El Lissitzky
10. New Man
1923
Edward Wadsworth
The Port
c.1915
El Lissitzky
6. Sportsmen
1923
El Lissitzky
9. Gravediggers
1923
You've viewed 6/9 artworks
You've viewed 9/9 artworks