The Laing Art Gallery is exploring over 200 years of landscape painting in the north of England and Scotland in their new exhibition ‘Romance to Realities: The Northern Landscape and Shifting Identities’.

If there’s one thing that we’ve got an abundance of in the north – including Scotland – it’s nail bars. But we’ve also got some of the most striking views you’ll find anywhere in the world. It’s true! Our landscapes have got the lot, from the wild, windswept and wonderful, to all those rugged coastlines, to whole swathes of crumbling castles. And for centuries, these landscapes have stolen the hearts of artists who have attempted to capture their awe and majesty. From the romanticised visions of early artists, to the more complex and often harsh realities represented in later works. These pieces depict not just the shifting nature of the land, but also an upheaval in societal values and human experience. Among the artists represented are British landscape artists such as John Knox, Alexander Nasmyth, and John Martin, through to modern and contemporary works by Anne Redspath, LS Lowry and Joan Eardley. With the earliest work dating from the 1560s, the exhibition charts thematic changes in landscape painting, exploring the idea of landscapes as sublime, awe-inspiring and overwhelming. It also examines notions of the the idealised or picturesque. And not a nail bar in sight. (Pic: Tantallon Castle by George Blackie Sticks (1872).)

Romance to Realities: The Northern Landscape and Shifting Identities, until 26 April 2025, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, laingartgallery.org.uk