Artwork of the Month: Sprung by David Ralph Simpson
26 March 2025
This month, the artwork was chosen by members of the Green Club, a support group for people affected by cancer and their loved ones run by the Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Centre at St George's Hospital.
About the artwork:
This month, we shortlisted artworks on the theme of Spring. The first day of Spring occurs in March but with two potential dates, depending on who you ask. The 1st March is the meteorological first day of Spring, being the first day of the three months which are attributed to Spring. The 20th March is the vernal equinox, one of the two days in the year when there are the same number of daylight hours as night time hours, making it the astronomical first day of Spring. The members of the Green Club voted for Sprung, by David Ralph Simpson.
In this artwork, we see features which suggest a garden, green rectangles could be hedges, and pink flecks could be flowers. This oil on canvas painting depicts the gardens at Glyndeborne, an opera house in East Sussex. The artist was commissioned to create artworks for Glyndebourne Opera Festival annually between 2000 and 2004. After a lively discussion, Sprung won the vote. Some members of the Green Club were drawn to the artwork, saying it was 'zingy' and that they could imaging sneaking under the borders, and that it made them think of summer grass and afternoons in the park. One commented that the more they looked at it, the more they saw. What do you think?
About the artist:
David Ralph Simpson is a British artist who was born in 1963 in Plymouth, Devon. He studied fine art at Newcastle Polytechnic between 1982 and 1985. His work has been featured in many solo exhibitions in venues across the UK. He has also presented in group exhibitions, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and Laing Landscape and Seascape Painting at the Pelter Sands Gallery in Bristol, where he was awarded a prize in 1990. His work is included in collections in Europe and the United States.
He is also a muralist, creating murals for the Royal School for the Deaf in Exeter in 1988, Television South West in 1989, and for the Harlequin Centre in 1995, commissioned by Exeter City Council.
Arts St George’s (part of St George’s Hospital Charity) is the arts programme for St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. To find out more, follow us on socials @artsstgeorges, or follow Arts St George's - St George's Hospital Charity
The 'Our Hospital: conserving, curating and responding to St George’s Art and Heritage Collection’ is a three-year project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. The project is focusing on conserving, cataloguing, reinterpreting and digitising St George’s Hospital’s unique Art and Heritage Collection so it can be enjoyed by many more people.
