The Lowry’s tour of an iconic LS Lowry painting worth £7.8 million has a new supporting partner, The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation.
The tour of LS Lowry’s celebrated painting ‘Going to the Match’ will be visiting a further five venues across the North West with the support of their new partner.
The venues include the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, The National Football Museum, Manchester and finally Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre.
The 1953 Lowry painting features football supporters streaming into Burnden Park, the original home of Bolton Wanderers FC. Most of Lowry’s crowds, as in Going to the Match, are painted against a backdrop of Lancashire’s industrial landscape.
Lowry spent much of his life painting people going about their everyday lives – going to work, to school, to the park and for this painting, going to see a football match.
The Lowry organisation, based in MediaCity, originally bought L.S. Lowry’s Going to the Match painting for a record £7.8 million in 2022.
Chief Executive of The Lowry, Julia Fawcett O.B.E. said: “Thanks to the wonderful generosity of The Law Family Charitable Foundation we were able to purchase the painting for the City of Salford.
“Going to the Match is a masterpiece and for that reason alone, it was important we were able to secure it so that future generations could come and see it, for free, forever.”
The tour aims to ensure that the painting can be enjoyed by the widest possible audiences across the region. The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation aims to create workshops on this tour with a particular focus on bringing people together from refugee communities in Manchester, Bury and Salford.
The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation was set up by Bobby in 2011 to ensure that people in war-decimated countries could play football safely and to address some of the devastating injuries which prevented them from leading healthy and fulfilling lives.
The tour has been boosted by a £95,000 grant from Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme as well as this additional support from The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation.
Chair of The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation, Stephen Cross said: “Whilst painted 70 years ago, it still evokes powerful memories and thoughts about match day, (it’s) so special to Sir Bobby and evocative of ‘the beautiful game’ that he so loved.
“Sir Bobby was always passionate about supporting young people – in their education, in their football careers and in developing into good citizens. He dedicated the last years of his life to his charity, which focuses on supporting those with significant challenges resulting from a background of conflict.”
For more information on the tour click here.
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