Past meets present as one of Britain’s most celebrated works is playfully reimagined
A richly dressed husband and wife sit in the English countryside. Their wealth shines through. This painting from 1750 is one of Britain’s most well-known works, showing off two people – and their privilege.
But what happens when this fashionable couple and their land are ripped from the scene? British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare does just that, reimagining Gainsborough’s famous piece in his own way.
Through striking sculpture, Shonibare removes the heads of the people in the painting and clothes them in West African textiles.
Questioning ideas about power, identity and wealth, his 1998 artwork makes connections between ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ and the networks of colonial exploitation that ran through Britain in the 1700s.
The headless figures, a common theme in Shonibare’s work, are playful and provocative, hinting at the infamous executions of the French Revolution.
For the first time, Shonibare’s ‘Mr. and Mrs. Andrews without their Heads’ and the portrait that inspired it will be brought together at the National Gallery, in an exhibition marking the 300th anniversary of Gainsborough’s birth.
From October 2026, experience ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ like never before and join a conversation between two artistic trailblazers across time.