LS Lowry’s going to the match: It’s coming home!

The Lowry attended the Modern British & Irish Art Sale at Christie’s in London, where they successfully bid to buy and keep LS Lowry’s ‘Going to the Match’ 1953 for The Lowry Collection, thanks to the generous support of The Law Family Charitable Foundation.

This hugely important and much-loved work of art has been on public display at The Lowry since we opened in 2000, courtesy of a loan by owners the Professional Footballers Association.

The painting’s iconic status has been recognised and loved by visitors of all ages: those who love art, those who love football and those who celebrate this quintessentially Northern experience.

Following the decision by the PFA to sell Going to the Match, there were no guarantees that any future owners would share the commitment to keeping the work on public view and free to access.

Julia Fawcett OBE, CEO of The Lowry, said: “We firmly believe that this iconic artwork must remain on public view, so it can continue to be seen by the broadest possible audiences, for free. This evening, thanks to an incredibly generous gift from The Law Family Charitable Foundation, we are delighted to have purchased the painting for the city’s collection of LS Lowry works.  We look forward to bringing it home to Salford, where it can continue to delight and attract visitors to the Andrew and Zoë Law galleries at The Lowry. A great deal of work has been needed to make this intervention possible – I’d like to thank Andrew and Zoë Law, our Chair Sir Rod Aldridge, Salford’s City Mayor Paul Dennett and our Trustees for all of their support”

Andrew Law said, “Zoë and I are delighted to have facilitated The Lowry’s purchase of Going to the Match. This LS Lowry painting belongs in Salford on public view, close to his birthplace, where he was educated and where he lived. Place matters. LS Lowry’s depiction of people attending a football match is just one of his many incredible genres of work, but it is undoubtedly his most iconic.”

Paul Dennett, Salford’s City Mayor, said: “LS Lowry, Salford’s greatest and most iconic artist, made his name depicting working-class life – as such we emphatically believed Going to the Match should remain on public view free to access where everyone can see it. I am delighted our campaign to save this critical and important painting has successfully resulted in The Lowry securing it  tonight, for the city of Salford in perpetuity for generations to come, for residents and visitors to our great City”