LONDON, ENGLAND.- The National Gallery presents today “Paradise,” the second exhibition under the Touring Exhibitions Partnership. This is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition in partnership with Bristol Museums and Art Gallery and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne. The exhibition will be on view through September 28, 2003.  It is supported by The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

The second in the series of touring exhibitions organised with its regional partners in Bristol and Newcastle and generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Drawn principally from the National Gallery’s collection the exhibition explores ways in which artists have reinterpreted the visible world to create images of paradise itself, to recall a lost Golden Age or to show the world idealised, as in the paintings by Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Constable. Also included are pictures by Monet, Gauguin and Stanley Spencer in which the artist has transfigured the world according to his own personal vision.

Paradise is an imaginary place or condition where, ideally, we would all like to be. The idea of paradise is different for everyone. It might be an unspoilt, beautiful place where food is plentiful and the sun always shines, or somewhere peaceful, where people live in harmony with nature and with each other.

Most cultures have stories that describe such a blissful place. Greek mythology tells of a golden age of innocence, which was destroyed when all the miseries of the world were released from Pandora’s box. The word ‘paradise’ derives from the Persian for a royal pleasure garden, and both the Bible and the Koran describe gardens of paradise. In the Bible Adam and Eve lived in heavenly innocence in the Garden of Eden, before eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The Koran speaks of entering the gardens of paradise as a reward for those who believe and do good deeds.

Many artists have tried to paint a concept of paradise. Some have used stories, such as these, to inspire them. Others have relied on their imagination alone.