CNN
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It has been described as “quite simply the best football painting ever” and is set to fetch up to $9 million at auction later this month, but the sale of LS Lowry’s “Going to the Match” could see the well-loved artwork disappear ad disappears from public view.
The 1953 painting, which depicts crowds of Lowry’s trademark matchstick-style figures heading towards a football stadium in north-west England, will be auctioned on October 19, potentially ending its 22-year stint at the Lowry Museum in Salford.
The impending sale has fueled fears in the art world and beyond about the painting’s future, so much so that the Mayor of Salford has appealed to wealthy football clubs and players to buy the painting and keep it in the public eye.
“There is a very real risk that the work will get out of public display, and there’s a real risk that it will leave the country as well,” Michael Simpson, director of fine arts at Lowry, told CNN.
According to Christie’s, the painting is expected to fetch between $5.5 million and $9 million (£5 million to £8 million) at auction, and Simpson hopes a temporary export ban could ensure the work stays in the UK after the sale.
In such a case, an independent committee would review the painting and advise the UK government on whether it should be considered a national treasure and deemed “too important to leave the UK”.
Many believe England’s North West is a natural home for ‘going to the match’ and its nostalgic depiction of crowds flocking to a football match.
Against a backdrop of factory chimneys and a gray, overcast sky, the tiny figures in the painting move towards Burnden Park – the former and now demolished home of Bolton Wanderers.
A far cry from the multi-billion dollar industry of today’s Premier League, it offers a snapshot of English football in the mid-20th century when viewers went straight from work to games on Saturdays.
“In my opinion, it’s probably the best football painting of all time,” Mick Kirkbride, a London-based artist featured in the Football Art Prize exhibition, told CNN.
“It’s just like everything about that release on a Saturday – going to that cathedral with your hordes and your bands and your tribes. And then the industrial backdrop says it all about where the game was born and where it thrived.”
Painted when Lowry was at the peak of his powers, “Going to the Match” – like much of the artist’s work – has risen in popularity in recent decades.
Today, nearly 50 years after his death, he is celebrated for his candid portrayals of ordinary people living ordinary lives.
Using a restricted and largely monochrome palette, Lowry captured brooding industrial scenes around Manchester and Salford and amassed a prolific body of work over the course of his artistic career
He created several works focused on sporting events, but “Going to the Match” is the best known – as the estimated price of the painting would suggest.
“For northern working-class people who like to look at paintings, it really is our Mona Lisa,” says Kirkbride. “For football fans, it’s iconic… You can’t think of many iconic football pictures.”
The painting was bought by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) – the union that represents footballers in England and Wales – in 1999 when then-CEO Gordon Taylor called it “quite simply the best football painting ever”.
But the PFA must now sell the painting to fund its charitable work, which includes supporting ex-football players living with dementia.
The Mayor of Salford has launched a campaign for a temporary export ban to be appended to ‘Going to the Match’ and wrote a letter swearing: “[people] Funds” to buy the painting and help put it on public display around the city.
“It’s gained iconic status over the last 20 years when it’s been on public view,” says Simpson, who believes the Lowry Museum has “really good reason” to keep the painting on display after it’s sold.
“When it was previously in a private collection, relatively few people knew about it. But having it on public display made it iconic and greatly increased its value.”
The Lowry is a 15-minute walk from Manchester United’s Old Trafford Stadium and benefits from increased footfall when the club has home games as a pre-game meeting place for fans.
“A lot of people come in, they have a bite to eat at our cafe and they get a couple of drinks at the bar,” says Simpson. “They go up and look at the painting, or they just meet up with people before they go to the game.”
But Simpson believes the upcoming World Cup in Qatar could encourage foreign collectors to buy Going to the Match, and Kirkbride expects the painting to sell for more than its worth given Lowry’s growing popularity.
“It’s the commodification of art against heritage—it’s a clash of two ideologies,” says Kirkbride. “Art is a commodity, the currency of art. There’s a tough market out there… It’s very, very cutthroat.”
Regardless of the outcome of the auction, efforts over the past few weeks to keep the painting on display in the UK are a testament to Lowry’s artistic legacy and football’s nostalgic appeal.
“Anyone who’s been to a football game can see themselves in this picture because it’s more about the shared experience of watching a game together and coming together at the game,” Simpson says.
“Lowry captures it beautifully in this work.”