How many ways are there to tell the story of British art? If you are Tate Britain, with access to tens of thousands artworks by thousands of artists, then the permutations are limitless. Later this month the museum will tell the latest version of the story as it unveils the most fundamental re-hang of its permanent collection since the division with Tate Modern in 2000. Back then it adopted a much criticised thematic hang that grouped work from different eras together under titles such as Portraiture, Landscape and War. In the years since, this policy has been significantly modified, but now the gallery has committed itself to a straight chronological run from the earliest work in the collection, John Bettes’s 1545 portrait A Man in a Black Cap, to work so contemporary – a Richard Wright wall painting will be the final work in the gallery – it hasn’t even been
Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/may/03/tate-britain-on-move-rehang