Tate has bought two works at this year’s Frieze fairs, one at Frieze London and one at Frieze Masters, and both will enter the permanent collection. The purchases were made through the Frieze Tate Fund 2026, supported by Alexander Lewis, Alexander V. Petalas and other donors.
Since Frieze London first launched in 2003, Tate has acquired over 180 works by more than 100 artists at the fair. These works have since been seen by millions of visitors in Tate’s four galleries and have been shared with museums and galleries across the UK and beyond.
Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Peace Unknown, 2026. Acquired from Hauser & Wirth (Frieze London). Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Boesky Gallery. Photo © Tate (Sonal Bakrania & Matt Greenwood).
The contemporary works are Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s Peace Unknown (2026), acquired from Hauser & Wirth’s presentation at Frieze London. It is a square canvas, 220 by 220 centimetres, built from glitter, glass beads, paper, ribbon, lustred earthenware and oil paint. That is a lot of material for one surface, and the museum points to exactly that quality: richly layered, large in scale, unafraid of mixing things.
Luis Fernando Zapata, Barge, 1992, natural pigments on hand-moulded papier-mâché, 186 × 62 × 10 cm. Photo: ©️ Tate (Sonal Bakrania & Matt Greenwood) .Courtesy: Elvira Moreno Gallery
The historical pick is Luis Fernando Zapata’s sculpture Barge (1992), bought from the stand shared by Galería Elvira Moreno and Alonso Garcés Galería at Frieze Masters. Zapata’s work, Tate says, shows an experimental use of natural and found materials.
Karin Hindsbo, Interim Director, Tate, said: “We are thrilled to be once again acquiring works for the national collection thanks to the generous supporters of this year’s Frieze Tate Fund. The acquisitions will bring these two important artists into Tate’s collection for the first time. The works both represent varied and complex approaches to materiality, as evidenced by the large-scale, richly layered surfaces and the experimental use of natural and found materials. I look forward to the public being able to enjoy these stunning works in Tate’s galleries and beyond.”
The fund has a long record. Since the first Frieze London in 2003, Tate has bought works by more than 100 artists at the fair, and the count of works is given in the announcement as both more than 170 and over 180, so the exact figure is unclear. Millions of visitors have seen them across Tate’s four galleries, and many have been lent to museums in the UK and abroad.
Several earlier purchases are on display now. Rita Keegan’s Homage to Frida (1987) is at Tate Modern, and Tate Britain’s contemporary display includes Adam Farah-Saad’s mixed media sculpture Two traumatised young men connect whilst roaming the city of London, helping each other to survive… (THE INNER CHILDREN MIX) (2023), along with photographs from Tessa Boffin’s series Angelic Rebels: Lesbians and Safer Sex (1989/2023). Mohammed Z Rahman’s Art Now show at Tate Britain includes two paintings bought in 2024, and the Gathering Ground display at Tate Modern has a group of bark paintings by Naminapu Maymuru-White, also acquired at the fair that year. Other recent buys on view include a collage by Frida Orupabo and a film by Tourmaline.