Your Paintings
128 paintings from The Higgins Bedford’s collection are featured in a major new initiative intended to showcase the UK’s entire collection of oil paintings, and we are marking the occasion with a series of postcards to collect and an interactive project for everyone to enjoy.
‘Your Paintings’ is a joint initiative between the BBC and the Public Catalogue Foundation that aims to increase access to the many oil paintings held in public collections within the UK. So far, the public catalogue foundation has photographed 212,000 oil paintings, and the BBC has presented all of these paintings on the Your Paintings website - www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/
This February there will be events across the UK celebrating the completion of the nation's Your Paintings website. The Higgins, Bedford is celebrating too. There are 128 of Bedford’s oil paintings, held at The Higgins, which are featured on the site, and we have printed six of them as postcards. Each of the six postcard designs shows a historic view of Bedford. These postcards can be picked up at independent shops and restaurants, the Tourist Information Centre or Bedford Central Library.
The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: “We are marking the Higgins Bedford’s contribution to this fantastic national project by celebrating six historic views of Bedford. We hope that people enjoy matching and comparing the historic views with the sites as they are now, and hope that the project makes people look forward to visiting The Higgins Bedford when it re-opens.”
Why not match one of these historic views with the current view? This can be achieved by taking a photo that includes the postcard view, as well as the contemporary equivalent. Send photos to:
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheHigginsBedford
• Twitter: @higginsbedford #yourpaintings
• Email: thehiggins@bedford.gov.uk
No prizes...it’s just for fun!
Explore more of the collection at Your Paintings
