ImagineFX - 10.2019

to the Tate will be able to step into a

space replicating the scene and

inspect the paintings on show.

AN EARLY INFLUENCER

Blake’s work has resonated with artists

through the ages. Whether illustrating

Dante’s Divine Comedy or his own

invented crypto-Christian mythology,

Blake was an artist who pushed the

emotional content of his works to the

threshold of madness. An early

Romanticist, he’s influenced everyone

from Pre-Raphaelites such as Dante

Gabriel Rossetti in the 1850s to 20th

century surrealists such as Paul Nash.

to recreate as vast frescos – The
Spiritual Form of Nelson Guiding
Leviathan and The Spiritual Form of
Pitt Guiding Behemoth – and will
project them on to the gallery wall at
an enormous scale. Both are examples
of how Blake would combine
contemporary events and prophecy,
baffling fellow artists and patrons.
In another move to give the artist
the recognition he deserves, the Tate
will recreate William Blake’s only
commercial show. Having fallen out
with a gallery owner, Blake staged his
1809 exhibition in a room above his
wife’s hosiery shop in London. Visitors

Artists Siggi Valur and Raffaella
captured some of Blake’s passion
in their mural, which hangs in
Café Loki, in central Reykjavik.

Painted 200 years ago,

the idea for Ghost of a

Flea came from a

seance that Blake

participated in.

Wayne Barlowe painted

Sargatanas Descending as a

homage to Blake’s distinctive

style and influence.

William Blake, The Ghost of a Flea (c.1819-1820). Tate

Like Blake, US fantasy artist Wayne

Barlowe has envisaged a range of

biblical and mythological creatures,

and has painted Hell itself.

“While I love his palette

and style, it’s really the

esoteric, symbolist nature

of his interpretations of

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