Gordon Brown's 'deeply gloomy' taste in art revealed

by Paul Conneally | July 5, 2008 at 03:27 am

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Brown's choice in art is conventional in many respects and shows a good solid taste if perhaps a little dark. The Hodgkin piece with typically the painting going on to the actual frame is an interesting choice.

There is little cheer among some of the 200 or so paintings which include a hand-coloured lithograph by Howard Hodgkin, entitled "Blood" and depiction of dark Scottish hills - "A Scottish landscape" - by Norman Ackroyd.

Westminister sources suggested the Hodgkin painting could provide inspiration if Mr Brown decides to sack his neighbour Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, while the dour landscape could reflect the deep gloom felt by the PM now that Labour is languishing in the polls.

Elsewhere Mr Brown has picked out a series of 19th century hand-coloured woodcuts from the alphabet series by William Nicholson, including the "V is for Villain", the "E is for Executioner" and the "R is for Robber".