Life after the Scottish referendum: the future of Tate

What will happen to collaborations between Tate and National Galleries of Scotland after the referendum? Your guide to the future of Tate in the aftermath of the vote writes Alice Godwin

Tate Modern has just closed its most successful exhibition ever, with 562,622 visitors making the trip to see Matisse’s colour cut-outs. After this resounding triumph, we can’t help but wonder what will happen to Tate’s similarly successful collaborations with Scotland as the referendum vote edges closer. 

Director of Tate, Nicholas Serota, laughed aside any notion that a ‘Yes’ vote on the 18th would mean the end of projects like ARTIST ROOMS , replying staunchly that ‘all partnerships will continue’. Phew. So that’s all OK then?

ARTIST ROOMS, the collaboration between National Galleries of Scotland and Tate, facilitated by the art dealer, collector and curator Anthony d’Offay, has already seen the acquisition and touring of iconic works by Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. In London we have been spoilt by the presence of controversial American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe at Tate Modern all summer. 

Tate, which prides itself on transcending boundaries and making its collection as accessible as possible,  has other close ties to Scotland with key loans of acquisitions like John Constable’s monumental Romantic landscape ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ (1831) and Roy Lichtenstein’s violent ‘Wall Explosion II’ (1965) north of the border to the National Galleries of Scotland. 

And there’s more – the Tate’s acclaimed Turner Prize is moving from the halls of Tate Britain next year for its first ever exhibition in Scotland, at Glasgow’s Tramway . Nicholas Serota said, ‘over the last 20 years, Glasgow and Scotland has gained national and international recognition as a centre of excellence in, and for, the visual arts.’ 

Of course other English institutions work closely with their Scottish counterparts; most famously the National Gallery London and National Galleries of Scotland jointly acquired two paintings by Titian for £95 million in 2012. So if these parents have a messy divorce – who gets to keep the Titian? 

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