The Tate Britain gallery has a large selection of British art through history from the 1800’s to present and work from artists such as Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, and Wolfgang Tillmans.

Tate Britain had an exhibition on of Rachel Whiteread’s oeuvre and a selection of work chosen by Whiteread from the Tate collection. I felt the work chosen was corresponding to Whiteread’s own aesthetic with the everyday object-based work of Barry Flanagan’s Rope or Sarah Lucas’ Beyond The Pleasure Principle as well as the rawness of material with Rebecca Warren’s Log Lady in unfired clay and Lynda Bengils’ Quartered Meteor in lead. One of the selected pieces was mounted on a large space of wall in solitude which felt very out of place and on first glance I dismissed it as it looked like some twee fairy tale painting from the 1800’s but on closer inspection I saw it was Richard Dadd’s The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke which I knew was made in an asylum he was sent to after he became insane and murdered his father. It’s a fascinating piece with exquisite detailing on such a small scale [540x394mm].

It’s a busy painting full of fairy tale characters with blades of grass panted across it like you’re peering into something hidden. There’s a strangeness to the painting, some of the characters are sinister looking and most are in two’s even some objects are in two’s. at the centre there’s a small cowering elf looking man which is said to be a portrait of Richard Dadd himself looking cross-eyed, sad and confused then to the right of him there’s a hidden face made up of people and objects in a surreal way.