A DRAMATIC painting commissioned for Chester Racecourse has left its artist ‘incredibly proud’ to have produced the work.
Anne Byrne, Cheshire-based and a semi-finalist for Sky Art’s Landscape Artist of the Year in 2022, has produced a magnificent depiction of the final furlong at the city racecourse.
The work was on show on Thursday, March 27 at the venue as bosses at Chester racecourse launched its 2025 season.
Anne was joined by Monika Swindells, who is managing and creative director at Chester-based Oh Foundation and who selected Anne for the commission from the racecourse.
Anne explained how she approached the painting.
“Monika had a brief from Chester racecourse to commission an artist to produce a painting,” she said.
“We’d worked together before and because of my style and genre of painting, Monika thought my approach would suit this particular brief.
“We kicked off from there as a starting point – the brief was very open but it needed to be something that was visibly representative of Chester racecourse.
“It had to be recognisably Chester racecourse but other than that, it was very open which is perfect for an artist.
“In this situation, I really enjoyed having the freedom because it gave me the space to inject in my experiences of the racecourse.
“I’ve been here, and I’ve walked it, but it gave me the chance to looking into its history.
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“There is a lot of me in this painting – it would have been easy to do something that is visually precise, like an illustration.
“I didn’t want that – I wanted something with energy and ‘oomph’, something that when a visitor to the racecourse sees that final furlong, they get that sense of power and energy that horses inject.
“I want them to hear that thunder of hooves and the roar of the crowd – it wasn’t just a literal piece, but I wanted a viewer to get what it would be like to be there on race day at the final furlong.”
The painting will be auctioned later on this summer and proceeds will be split between the Oh Foundation and a horse racing charity for retired horses.
Monika added that she hoped the bidding will be high to support both groups.
“We support artists like Anne to help bring focus to their work,” she said.
“They’re all creatives so it’s about raising their profiles in Chester and connect people with business and give them the opportunity to do something like this.
“Hopefully we want it to sell for as much as it can at auction as it will support so many people.”
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