Glasgow’s Burrell Collection was announced this evening as the winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023 at a ceremony held at the British Museum in London.
Located in Pollok Country Park on the outskirts of Glasgow, the museum houses the art and antiquities collection of over 9,000 amassed by Scottish shipping magnate William Burrell and his wife Constance Burrell.
Run by the charity Glasgow Life, the museum was officially reopened by King Charles in March 2022 after a six-year £68million refurbishment and re-display. The museum attracted over 500,000 visitors in the year after it reopened, contributing over £20 million to Glasgow’s local economy.
Duncan Dornan, Head of Museums and Collections for Glasgow Life, was presented with the £120,000 prize – the world’s biggest museum prize – by artist Sir Grayson Perry.
The Burrell Collection was one of five finalists. The other preselected museums are: Leighton House (London), The MAC (Belfast), Natural History Museum (London) and Scapa Flow Museum (Orkney). Each finalist will receive £15,000.
Burrell, who died in 1958, aged 96, was a voracious and diverse collector. When he started the Burrell collection, he initially focused on 19th century French art, but soon became interested in historical and world artifacts. The collection today covers antiques ranging from Chinese porcelain to medieval tapestries, military armor and stained glass.
Burrell donated his collection to the City of Glasgow in 1944, by which time it numbered over 6,000 objects, but he continued to add to it throughout his life until the collection grew to over 9,000 pieces.
In a statement shared with The Journal of the Arts, Mary Beard, the art historian and host who was one of the judges, said: “The Burrell Collection is a treasure trove of objects to discover, with everything from one of the most important art collections Chinese from the UK, medieval tapestries and stained glass. , and works of art by Rembrandt, Degas and more.”
The gallery closed in 2016 for a modernization led by London-based architectural firm John McAslan + Partners, based on designs that retained the original building and its footprint. But re-exhibiting the works presented a challenge. Writing in The Art Newspaper in March 2022Joanna Moorhead said, “Collections don’t get much more steeped in white, masculine, wealth-driven narratives than this.”
Throughout the renovation, museum staff were therefore tasked with reshaping the Burrell collection for the 21st century, adding immersive displays and digital technology, while paying homage to the original vision of its namesake.
Jenny Waldman, the director of Art Fund, pays tribute to how the renovation has been “carried out with a strong common purpose and with the involvement of local community groups in Glasgow”.
“The Burrell collection is extraordinary,” says Waldman. “A world-class collection displayed in an inspiring building, in harmony with the surrounding landscape of Pollok Country Park.”
