The much anticipated unveiling of the revamped Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery takes place this week, and Mud Sun is sure to be one of the highlights. The new commission by Sir Richard Long is a dazzling five-metre long flat circular sculpture, made on site by the acclaimed land artist by hand, using tidal mud from the River Avon, close to Long’s home in Bristol. It occupies a dramatic position at the top of the grand staircase in the transformed Sainsbury Wing, housing the most ambitious rehang of the National Gallery’s collection of early 13th century to High Renaissance paintings to date. Long is the only artist to have been nominated for the Turner Prize four times (he won in 1989) and is one of the country’s most celebrated sculptors, producing pioneering land art works with earth, rock, stone and mud. Mud Sun is typifies Long’s approach to art and the landscape, through simple physical actions, evoked in the work’s swirls and undulating patterns, reminders of human gestures and movements in nature.

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