Richard Long

Considered one of the most influential artists of his generation, Richard Long’s works have extended the possibilities of sculpture beyond traditional materials and methods. Central to Long’s work is the activity of walking. Long’s walking works are represented by photographs and texts, but he also makes sculptures using natural materials, both in the landscape and in the gallery. 

Long first used mud as a material in 1969. After Nature includes a large work made in River Avon mud (sourced close to Long’s home in Bristol) in which the liquid mud, directed by the artist’s energetic gestures, splashes, drips and runs. Two small works on paper are made by simply dipping the sheets of paper into a bath of mud and drawing them out. 

Richard Long lives and works between London and Bristol. Recent solo exhibitions include Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2023), M Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2021), De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands (2019), Arnolfini, Bristol (2015), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, (2010) and Tate Britain, London (2009). He represented Britain at the 37th Venice Biennale (1976) and won the Turner Prize in 1989. He received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture (1990) and was awarded Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in the field of sculpture (2009). He was knighted in the 2018 Honours List. 

Long’s work is held in major museum collections worldwide. In May 2025, The National Gallery unveiled Long’s Mud Sun a new permanent commission for the gallery’s refurbished Sainsbury Wing.