Going to the Match, painted in 1953, is LS Lowry’s best-known and most popular picture. Although he painted football-themed scenes before and after this date it is Going to the Match which has become iconic – an enduring representation of what match day means to fans.

The 1953 work shows fans arriving for a Bolton Wanderers game at their former home, Burnden Park. The painting’s iconic status has been recognised and loved by visitors of all ages: especially those who love football and those who celebrate this quintessentially Northern experience.

This hugely important and much-loved work of art had been on public display at The Lowry, Salford since it opened in 2000, courtesy of a loan by the then owners the Professional Footballers Association (PFA). Following a high-profile campaign, Going to the Match was purchased by The Lowry in Salford for The Lowry Collection at the Modern British & Irish Art Sale at Christie’s in London in October 2022, thanks to the generous support of The Law Family Charitable Foundation. The painting returned to public display at The Lowry in November 2022 as part of Salford’s Lowry Collection and The Lowry is now working with galleries and venues across the North West to ensure that the piece can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience across the region. Supported by a £95,000 grant from Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme and additional support from the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation, the tour will mean this iconic painting can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience across the region.

The painting is being displayed at the Williamson alongside other works by Lowry and a selection of pictures from the Williamson’s collection which place Lowry in the wider context of painting in Northern England in the mid 20th Century.

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Image Credit: LS Lowry, Going to the Match, 1953
© The Estate of L.S. Lowry. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2024