Page 152 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

8 April 2021

The Thames is the light of my life

— now it can be yours too

Clive Davis

Nature can be a work of art. It just sometimes needs a little help. We have a habit of taking the

Thames for granted, but a scheme to illuminate bridges in the centre of London is a reminder

that the river is an integral part of our history. Not since David Walliams donned his wetsuit and

goggles and splashed his way from Lechlade to SW1 has the ancient waterway been at the

centre of so much attention.

Illuminated River, a project launched by Hannah Rothschild, a writer, documentary film-maker

and former chairwoman of the board of trustees of the National Gallery, unveiled its first phase

in 2019 when four bridges, including London Bridge, were bathed in LED lights installed by the

visionary American artist Leo Villareal.

Another five bridges will be getting the Villareal treatment this month. Blackfriars, Waterloo,

the Golden Jubilee footbridge, Westminster and Lambeth bridges will all be dressed up in their

finest. The colours and tones used in the paintings of those inveterate Thames-watchers Monet,

Whistler and Turner provide some of the
inspiration, while at Westminster a shade

of green was chosen to complement the

colour of the leather upholstery in the

House of Commons.

The result will be a chain of light that will

draw the bridges together and lift the

Thames out of the darkness in what is

claimed to be the world’s longest public