Gilbert & George 'DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR…' An exhibition at The Gilbert & George Centre . (This link opens in a new tab).

The Gilbert & George Centre will present ‘DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR…’ an exhibition of 18 pictures by Gilbert & George that span the years 1984 to 1998, an astonishingly prolific period for the artists. The exhibition brings together the epic quadripartite picture DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR, which the exhibition takes its title from, and presents it alongside a unique selection of pictures from Gilbert & George’s ‘NEW DEMOCRATIC PICTURES’ and ‘RUDIMENTARY PICTURES’.

DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR, part of Tate’s permanent collection, is one of 23 works created by Gilbert & George for ‘THE 1984 PICTURES’. The principal of this series is concise: youth, nature, Gilbert & George and colour itself. In the ‘NEW DEMOCRATIC PICTURES’, originally exhibited in London in 1992, the artists appeared naked for the first time. The pictures also developed the symbolic use of colour that had become characteristic of their work from the early 1980s onwards. In ‘THE RUDIMENTARY PICTURES’ the artists are stripped of the uniform of their clothing - appearing as vulnerable travellers bearing witness to scenes beyond their control.

From their very beginnings, Gilbert & George have sought to express in their art the fundamentals of human existence: the universal truths as they see them of the modern condition. The title of this exhibition, ‘DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR...’ is therefore descriptive of the subjects surveyed by the art of Gilbert & George, and the feelings that may be evoked by those subjects within the individual, who as such ‘completes’ the picture, each in their own way.

“Each picture speaks of a “Particular View” which the viewer may consider in the light of his own life.”– Gilbert & George

The exhibition will remain on view until February 2026 and will complement ‘Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES’ at London’s Hayward Gallery, which will open in October 2025.