Sir Dirk Bogarde

by David Tindle
egg tempera on canvas, 1986
25 1/2 in. x 33 1/8 in. (648 mm x 841 mm)
Commissioned, 1986
Primary Collection
NPG 5891

Sitterback to top

Sir Dirk Bogarde (Derek van den Bogaerde) (1921-1999), Actor. Sitter in 10 portraits.

Artistback to top

David Tindle (1932-), Painter. Artist of 3 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits.

This portraitback to top

David Tindle, a Royal Academician known in particular for his pointilliste still-lifes, painted Bogarde at the sitter's home in France.

Linked publicationsback to top

Gibson, Robin; Clerk, Honor, 20th Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1993, p. 27 Read entry
Doctor at Sea (1955) and Death in Venice (1971) mark the artistic parameters of Bogarde's career as a film actor. Typecast originally as a matinée idol, he first escaped to more demanding work with his 1961 portrayal of a homosexual barrister in Victim. At a stroke Bogarde had alienated his erstwhile fans but from this time on a penetrating and often disturbing psychological insight characterizes such roles as Hugo Barrett in Joseph Losey's The Servant (1963), Aschenbach in Visconti's Death in Venice and Max in The Night Porter (1974). A second career as a writer has produced six volumes of autobiography and four novels.
The portrait was commissioned by the Gallery's Trustees from David Tindle, a Royal Academician whose pointillist technique is better known in his exquisite still lifes and interiors than in portraiture.
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 63

Placesback to top

Place made and portrayed: France (sitter's home, France)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Fame! (8 April 2006 - 6 August 2006)

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1986back to top

Current affairs

Hampton Court Palace is devastated by fire. Much of the third floor and the roof of the building were destroyed, although, thanks to the courage of the fire fighters, only one painting and one piece of furniture were ruined.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

Art and science

Poems on the Underground, the brainchild of American writer Judith Chernaik, is launched by London Underground. A rolling programme of poems is displayed in tube train carriages, bringing contemporary and classic poetry to commuters.
The Independent Newspaper is first published.
Artists, Gilbert and George win the Turner Prize.

International

An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station leads to nuclear meltdown in the reactor and causes massive nuclear contamination over Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, western Europe, the UK and Ireland, and even North America. The 2005 Chenobyl Forum attributed 56 direct deaths to the disaster and estimated that 9,000 people may die from some form of cancer as a result of exposure to radiation.

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