The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired The American Dream by Sir Grayson Perry

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired Sir Grayson Perry’s The American Dream for the people of Scotland.

Article Source: National Galleries of Scotland
Last Updated: 12 November 2025 13:40

Image: The American Dream, Grayson Perry, 2020. Purchased by the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland 2024. © Grayson Perry. Courtesy the artist, Paragon | Contemporary Editions Ltd. and Victoria Miro

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired Sir Grayson Perry’s The American Dream for the people of Scotland. This exciting addition to the national collection comes two years after the blockbuster Grayson Perry: Smash Hits exhibition closed on 12 November 2023, where the work was on display. Visitors can now see the print by the contemporary cultural icon in Modern One for free.

A massive colour etching measuring in at an impressive 239cm, nearly 8-foot, The American Dream is an epic satirical statement on our current culture wars. The print highlights buzzwords, anxieties and issues which dominate our media.

Perry wrote the wall labels for the 2023 exhibition and for this work said: ‘This is a map of the US I made in response to my experiences there when filming my television series, Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip. It toys with the common delusion that there is a clear and certain route out of our mess of feelings. Stylistically, I was thinking of Cold War propaganda maps showing the ‘communist threat’ in the 1950s. The Big Brother like figure at the top is Mark Zuckerberg, the best known face of social media power. When looking at the conflicts that swirl around social media, I find it illuminating to observe the scene like a psychotherapist might listen to a client. When we experience a background hum of unfocused emotion, be it anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, we unconsciously look for something to attach it to. Social media is brilliant at supplying us with issues to which we can attach our free-floating feelings.’

Patrick Elliot, Chief Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, said: ‘We didn’t have a work of Perry’s in Scotland’s national collection, but it was something we had long considered. When the opportunity to acquire one of the prints came up after the exhibition it seemed the perfect opportunity. Perry’s prints are enormous, hilarious, full of biting satire and gorgeously coloured and detailed. We all loved The American Dream, as with so much of Perry’s work it is hilarious but bang on. The feedback we got from visitors to the exhibition was hugely positive. You could see them laughing out loud and engaging with strangers as they studied the pots and prints with their acutely observed comments on society. So, we hope that visitors can have the same positive experience when they come to visit The American Dream at Modern One.’

Perry has gone from taking evening classes in pottery to winning the Turner Prize. He’s renowned for presenting television programmes on Channel 4, writing acclaimed books and commanding audiences far and wide during his live tours. An artist in every sense of the word, his accessible approach to art and engaging public persona has elevated Perry to the status of household name, and more recently, earned him a knighthood.

Always keen to do the unexpected, pottery was Perry’s chosen method in which to indulge his fascination with sex, punk, and counterculture amongst other things, showcasing his interests in the most unlikely and polite of art forms. Today, he is one of Britain’s most celebrated artists and cultural figures. The Summer 2023, Grayson Perry: Smash Hits exhibition not only included his most famous works, but also the first pieces he made as a student in Portsmouth.

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The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired The American Dream by Sir Grayson Perry

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired Sir Grayson Perry’s The American Dream for the people of Scotland.

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