Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
The Watts Gift
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-frederic-watts-586" aria-label="More by George Frederic Watts" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">George Frederic Watts</a> and assistants
Chaos
Presented by George Frederic Watts 1897
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: fantastic
chaos
cloud
contorted
contrast
cosmos
emotions, concepts and ideas
evolution
flying
giant
landscape
male
man
mountain
natural phenomena
nudes
people
reclining
rocky
sea
seascapes and coasts
smoke
transformation
universal concepts
violence
weather
woman
<p>Watts intended <span>Chaos</span> to be the ‘opening chapter’ of the <span>House of Life</span>. He said the painting ‘conveys ... an idea of the passing of our planet from chaos to order’. On the left, giants struggle to release themselves from formless fire and vapour. The central figure, emerging from the water, suggests survival. Towards the right, measurable time is signalled by the chain of female figures. In 1884, a version of <span>Chaos</span> was exhibited in a Watts solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It was the museum’s first retrospective dedicated to a living artist.</p><p><em>Gallery label, June 2021</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
26 January 2008 – 20 April 2008
2008-04-20
26 January 2008 – 20 April 2008
2008-04-20
2008-01-26
Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester, UK)
http://www.whitworth.man.ac.uk
2008-01-26
Blake's Shadow: William Blake and his Artistic Legacy
Loan-out
5 February 2009 – 3 May 2009
2009-05-03
5 February 2009 – 3 May 2009
2009-05-03
2009-02-05
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)
http://www.schirn.de
2009-02-05
Envisioning Darwin
Loan-out
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
2009-08-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-18
Sublime
Collection based display
1 March 2011 – 31 December 2011
2011-12-31
1 March 2011 – 31 December 2011
2011-12-31
2011-03-01
Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village (Compton, UK)
http://www.wattsgallery.org.uk
2011-03-01
Watts Gallery Re-Opening
Loan-out
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
26 May 2021 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
26 May 2021 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
2021-05-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2021-05-26
Watts’s Symbolical Paintings
Collection based display
Chaos
support: 1067 × 3048 mm
frame: 1395 × 3375 × 90 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999783" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">George Frederic Watts</a> 1897
<div class="text">
<p>Watts intended <i>Chaos</i> to be the ‘opening chapter’ of the <i>House of Life</i>. He said the painting ‘conveys ... an idea of the passing of our planet from chaos to order’. On the left, giants struggle to release themselves from formless fire and vapour. The central figure, emerging from the water, suggests survival. Towards the right, measurable time is signalled by the chain of female figures. In 1884, a version of <i>Chaos</i> was exhibited in a Watts solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It was the museum’s first retrospective dedicated to a living artist.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2021-06-07T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults animals: fantastic chaos cloud contorted contrast cosmos emotions, concepts and ideas evolution flying giant landscape male man mountain natural phenomena nudes people reclining rocky sea seascapes and coasts smoke transformation universal concepts violence weather woman