Scottish Art and the Sense of Place

Art that is rooted in a specific place does something to a room that generic art cannot.

Here is a painting from my own wall. In 1973, artist Muriel Fife Fairlie stood above the Water of Leith and painted the view upstream of Dean's Brae Bridge, the mill buildings and the tower of the old Holy Trinity Church built in 1837-8, visible in the distance.

And here, decades later, is a photograph I took standing in a similar spot. The gardens have been landscaped, and the trees have grown taller, almost obscuring the church tower. The Edinburgh School Board building of 1875 on the left of the bridge has been converted into flats since the painting was made and an extra storey slotted in. Count the windows.

I like this painting. It’s local to me. I can walk out of my house and walk into the 21st century version of the painting.

Art that knows where it is does something to a Scottish room that no generic print can match. Read more in What Makes It Scottish.