STUART BRISLEY, Study for 'Semenal Sequences', 1995–96, Collection: The British Museum<br/>
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Study for 'Semenal Sequences', 1995–96

Acrylic and tempera on paper

45 cm x 50 cm

Collection: The British Museum
© The Trustees of the British Museum

During the 1990s the monarchy and the press became persistent themes in the work of Stuart Brisley, the British painter, sculptor and performance artist. The image of Diana Princess of Wales, as seen through a bespattered car window, is based on a press photograph. Brisley questions the media's dual power to idolize and vilify and its voyeuristic obsession with royal celbrity. This is a study for a painting which Brisley completed a few months before Diana's tragic death in a car accident while being pursued by paparazzi in 1997.

Notes from the exhibition British Museum: Recent aquisitions, May–September 2013