Coronation Cross
- Artist: Gilbert & George
- Date: 1981
- Medium: 49 postcards on paper on board
- Dimensions: unconfirmed: 1330 x 997 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Coronation Cross" by Gilbert & George, created in 1981. The work is a collage of 49 postcards glued onto a board, arranged in a rectangular grid that traces the outline of the English flag. At the centre, thirteen identical postcards show Queen Elizabeth II on her Coronation Day in 1953, photographed by Cecil Beaton. The queen is captured holding the Sovereign’s Orb and the Sceptre, symbols of monarchical authority, set against a backdrop of the vaulted ceiling of Westminster Abbey shown on the surrounding postcards. By choosing a commonplace object like a postcard, the artists subvert the usual hierarchy of materials and democratise the symbols of British nationhood. The piece was purchased by the collection in 1982 and is now on display in the Modern and Contemporary British Art section, part of the “No Such Thing as Society” exhibition. The work invites viewers to reconsider what we regard as emblematic: a cross made not of stone or gilded wood, but of everyday paper, reminding us that national identity can be as fleeting and as accessible as a printed image.
See it in person
Coronation Cross is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
