WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Alan Davie

Alan Davie

1920–2014

WA-00016808

Grangemouth, UK

PaintingAbstract ExpressionismExpressionismColor Field

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ44033

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Recent European Acquisitions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1956–1957

Field Verification (2 fields)

1 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%

Source Registry (2)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1401
Tier 1 · Institutional92%
Wikidata
Tier 1 · Institutional40%

About

Why this artist matters now

Alan Davie was a British painter who developed an abstract vocabulary combining gestural mark-making with symbolic and mythological imagery. Working primarily in oil and acrylic from the 1940s onward, his compositions layer calligraphic forms, biomorphic shapes, and vivid color fields into densely populated surfaces that suggest both cosmic and intimate scales. His work emerged alongside and in dialogue with European modernism and American Abstract Expressionism, though his symbolic vocabulary remained distinctly his own.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Abstract Expressionism

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Tate

Canonical record

Artworks (35)

WattsOS

Impromptus

2001 · Portfolio of 16 etchings, title page, box

Sheet: 28 3/8 × 33 7/8 in. (72 × 86 cm) Plate: 22 × 27 7/8 in. (55.9 × 70.8 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Village Myths No. 36

1983 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 2135 x 1730 mm

Tate

Magic Picture No. 1

1977 · Lithograph on paper

image: 546 x 743 mm

Tate

Bird Through Wall

1973 · Lithograph on paper

image: 502 x 708 mm

Tate

Italian Image

1973 · Lithograph on paper

image: 333 x 613 mm

Tate

Bird Through Wall from Penwith Portfolio

1973 · Lithograph

Sheet 22 1/8 x 30 7/16" (56.2 x 77.3 cm) Comp. 19 3/4 x 27 13/16" (50.2 x 70.6 cm) (irreg.)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from Homage to Picasso (Hommage à Picasso)

1972 · Lithograph from a portfolio of thirty-one lithographs (one with aquatint, one with collotype, one with screenprint), twenty-two screenprints (one with embossing, one with flocking, one with stencil), eleven etchings (five with aquatint, one with aquatint and drypoint, one with aquatint, drypoint, and engraving), three aquatints (one with etching), and two woodcuts

composition (irreg.): 18 1/8 x 24 1/2" (46 x 62.2cm); sheet: 19 11/16 x 25 7/8" (50 x 65.8cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Fairy Tree No. 5

1971 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 1727 x 2134 mm

Tate

For the Hens

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 514 x 768 mm

Tate

For the Hens (trial proof)

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 514 x 772 mm

Tate

Celtic Dreamboat I

1965 · Lithograph on paper

image: 514 x 768 mm

Tate

Celtic Dreamboat II

1965 · Lithograph on paper

image: 514 x 768 mm

Tate

Celtic Dreamboat III

1965 · Lithograph on paper

image: 514 x 768 mm

Tate

XIV, from Zurich Improvisation

1965 · Color lithograph on ivory wove paper

Image: 55.6 × 78.5 cm (21 15/16 × 30 15/16 in.); Sheet: 62.7 × 85.1 cm (24 11/16 × 33 9/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

XXVII, from Zurich Improvisation

1965 · Color lithograph on ivory wove paper

Image: 56.2 × 78.5 cm (22 3/16 × 30 15/16 in.); Sheet: 62.6 × 89 cm (24 11/16 × 35 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

I, from Zurich Improvisation

1965 · Color lithograph on ivory wove paper

Image: 54 × 72.2 cm (21 5/16 × 28 7/16 in.); Sheet: 62.8 × 89.3 cm (24 3/4 × 35 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

For the Incantation to the Entrance

1964 · Watercolor, with gouache, on cream wove paper, laid down on white mat board

55.8 × 76.1 cm (22 × 30 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Double page in-text plate (pages 24 and 25) from 1¢ Life

1964 · Lithograph from an illustrated book with sixty-two lithographs and reproductions

composition (irreg.): 15 1/4 × 21 9/16" (38.7 × 54.7 cm); sheet (irreg.): 16 1/8 × 22 13/16" (41 × 58 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Double page plate (page 1 and preceding page) from 1¢ Life

1964 · Lithograph from an illustrated book with sixty-two lithographs and reproductions

composition (irreg.): 15 11/16 × 21 15/16" (39.8 × 55.7 cm); sheet (irreg.): 16 1/8 × 22 13/16" (41 × 58 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Bird Noises

1963 · Lithograph on paper

image: 578 x 806 mm

Tate

Sleep My Angel

1961 · Lithograph on paper

image: 578 x 813 mm

Tate

Entrance for a Red Temple No. 1

1960 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 2134 x 1727 mm

Tate

Ram Grip

1960 · Oil on canvas

60 1/8 x 72" (152.7 x 182.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Three Look the Other Way

1957 · Oil paint, with touches of gouache, on tan corrugated paper

33.8 × 58.7 cm (13 5/16 × 23 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 35 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

35 published of 40 catalogued · 39 with image

Tate
24 published24 img
MoMA
5 publishedof 10 catalogued10 img
Art Institute Chicago
5 published5 img
The Met
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 10)

10 entries · 1 sources

Interested Sperm Around an Egg
1948 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Head
1955 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Image of the Fish God
1956 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Bird Through Wall
1973 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Spirit Over the Landscape
1948 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Sleep My Angel
1961 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Night Sky on a Holiday
1948 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Magic Picture No. 1
1977 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Black Mirror
1952 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Fairy Tree No. 5
1971 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Movements3

Abstract Expressionism Expressionism Color Field

Collections7

Tate Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago The Metropolitan Museum of Art Phillips Christie's

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Tate

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Market

Auction History

Work	Auction House	Date	Estimate	Hammer Price
Untitled	Artsy	Apr 2026	£200 – £300	Unsold
Untitled	Artsy	Feb 2025	£300 – £500	Unsold

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Recent European Acquisitions

New York · 1956