Swatch partners with Tate galleries for art-inspired timepieces

JMW Turner is often described as ‘the father of modern art’ and is one of Britain’s greatest painters. Turners’s Scarlet Sunset takes an iconic scene and focuses on the light and color throughout the whole watch.

On the dial, the use of the calendar wheel brings additional depth, with the sun changing color across a 14-day period until the cycle begins again.

Known as an early modernist, Marc Chagall’s style combined many different influences. Fascinated by the colorful chaos of the circus, he described it as, ‘a magic show that appears and disappears like a world.’

The characters of the circus inspired Chagall’s art throughout his life. Chagall’s Blue Circus brings the circus to life through the vivid and vibrant blue across the strap and dial. A moon and an eye balanced on the ends of the hands bring the dynamism of the acrobats to life.

Joan Miró was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. His distinctive style was influenced by Surrealism and other art movements of the era.

Miró’s use of shapes and bright colors have personal and symbolic meaning, and his works often reflect Catalan pride and identity. This piece of art highlights the abstract and dials up the color with its joyful placement of the image across the dial and strap. Indexes printed on the glass stand out from the artwork adding depth and dimension.

Fernand Léger belonged to the avant-garde movement in Paris in the early 20^th century where he was associated with Cubism. He later became inspired by modern life, machinery and technology and developed a boldly simplistic style based on the separation between color and line: color is scattered across different parts of the canvas, separate to the drawing itself.

The piece focuses on the bold and brilliant color, bringing it into full focus across the strap and dial. Three different colored hands bring additional brightness.

Henri Matisse, a French visual artist, helped revolutionize art in the early 20^th century. In particular, he had a significant impact on painting. He created Fauvism, an influential bold style of painting using vivid colors and loose brushwork. In a career spanning over 50 years, his later works, including inventive paper cut-outs, are especially popular.

This piece embraces the famous image on the dial, but also across the transparent strap.

British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s paintings burst with rich colors and energetic, free-flowing brushwork. Her abstract works gradually became bolder and simpler, reflecting her love of living and life. Bold, black indexes are printed on the dial enhancing the powerful energy of this artwork.

This piece reflects Swatch’s natural joie de vivre and invites you to take a moment to immerse yourself in a riot of color.

Best known for her large-scale sculptures and installations, French-American artist Louise Bourgeois was also a skilled painter and printmaker who frequently used spirals in her works. For her, their outward movement symbolized ‘giving, and giving up control, trust and positive energy….’