• Source: Student Guide
• Date: 15 September 2008 (updated 16 September 2008)
• Written by: David Pollock

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Lucien Freud

Two Men
Bought upon its completion in 1988 for £300,000, the Scottish National Galleries didn’t do too badly out of this life study of two reclining men, one naked, one not. Freud is now the world’s most expensive living artist.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Salvador Dali

Christ of St John on the Cross
Possibly the biggest coup in Scottish art-buying history, the purchase of this striking and classic religious image for a knock-down £8,200 was considered a controversial waste in 1952. Now it’s lent and reproduced around the world.
Kelvingrove, Glasgow

Roy Lichtenstein

In The Car
Typical of Lichtenstein’s Pop Art reappropriating comic strip panels as high art, there’s a certain kineticism about this piece which makes it stand out. Glamorous blonde goes for a drive with square-jawed guy, and an iconic moment is framed.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

John Byrne

Robbie Coltrane
Two icons of the Scottish arts meet, around the time Coltrane got his big break playing one of the lead roles in the multi-faceted Byrne’s television series Tutti Frutti.
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Alison Watt

Phantom
Newly purchased by GoMA with assistance from The Art Fund, this recent work by the highly thought-of Greenock-born Watt will go on display in November.
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

Eduardo Paolozzi

Masters of the Universe
Based upon a drawing of Isaac Newton by William Blake, this large-scale sculpture by the Leith-born Pop Artist Paolozzi is one of the defining sights of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Dean Gallery complex’s gardens.
Dean Gallery, Edinburgh

Titian

The Three Ages of Man
Dwelling on the ages of man and his ultimate mortality, this piece by the Venetian master of the Italian Renaissance is one of Scotland’s older artistic treasures.
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Gilbert and George

Exister
Famed for using themselves as ‘living sculptures’, this 1984 work sees the artists and an unknown cast made iconic through the impudent ‘stained glass window’ technique, a G&G trademark.
The d’Offay Donation, Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh (to be exhibited Spring 2009)

Joseph Beuys

Fettstuhl (Fat Chair)
A chair in a glass case, and a heap of animal fat atop it – this is how Beuys symbolised the frailty and mechanical purpose of the human form in 1964.
The d’Offay Donation, Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh (to be exhibited Spring 2009)

Damien Hirst

Trinity: Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology
Continuing his vivid fascination with mortality, this triptych of Hirst’s comprises three cabinets filled with medical busts and artefacts.
The d’Offay Donation, Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh (to be exhibited Spring 2009)