LS Lowry’s Going to the Match saved from private ownership after being auctioned for £7.8m

LS Lowry’s Going To The Match painting sold for £7.8m at a charity auction yesterday after fears it would fall into private ownership.

Last night’s (19/10/2022) auction saw The Lowry art centre purchase the piece at Christie’s Auction House, London.

The move comes after support from The Law Family Charitable Foundation allowed to gallery to purchase the piece and save it from potential private ownership.

The painting features Lowry’s trademark stick figures and depicts a match Bolton Wanderers’ old stadium Burnden Park, in Pendlebury, which was demolished in 1999.

The 1953 painting will remain on display at the gallery alongside the rest of the Salfordian painter’s works, including ‘Coming from the Mill’ and ‘Industrial Landscape’.

Going to the Match was bought by the Professional Football Association (PFA)in 1999 for £1.8m, and has been on long-term loan to the Lowry Gallery ever since.

The piece was sold by the PFA in a bid to raise money for the organisation’s charitable arm.

Julia Fawcett OBE, CEO of The Lowry, said: “We firmly believe that this iconic artwork must remain on public view, so it can continue to be seen by the broadest possible audiences, for free. Thanks to an incredibly generous gift from The Law Family Charitable Foundation, we are delighted to have purchased the painting for the city’s collection of LS Lowry works.

“A great deal of work has been needed to make this intervention possible – I’d like to thank Andrew and Zoë Law, our Chair Sir Rod Aldridge, Salford’s City Mayor Paul Dennett and our Trustees for all of their support”

The auction saw fierce opposition from the Mayor, after he described the painting’s potential private ownership as “truly tragic”, in a series of tweets earlier this month.

In response to auction, Paul Dennett, Salford’s City Mayor, said: “I am delighted our campaign to save this critical and important painting has successfully resulted in The Lowry securing it for the city of Salford in perpetuity for generations to come, for residents and visitors to our great City.

“LS Lowry, Salford’s greatest and most iconic artist, made his name depicting working-class life – as such we emphatically believed Going to the Match should remain on public view free to access where everyone can see it.”