Expressive Faces

Faces that ooze character. Funny faces. Faces which express pain or pleasure. Faces created with expressive marks and textures, and faces that are expressive simply because the lines of life are etched into them.

The faces below are a selection of those in Tate’s Collection. You can explore more by using the subject search. Type ‘face’ into the search box.

• Bruce Nauman
  e 1970
  © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2002
• Pablo Picasso
  Weeping Woman 1937
  © Succession Picasso/DACS 2002
• Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
  Michelangelo's 'David' ?1987
  © The Estate of Eduardo Paolozzi
• Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
  Study of a Man's Head 1866
  Bequeathed by A.N. MacNicholl 1916
• Gillian Wearing
  Confess All On Video. Don't Worry You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued? Call Gillian Version II 1994
  © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Paley/ Interim Art, London
• Alan Davie
  Head circa 1955
  © Alan Davie
• Francis Bacon
  Study for Portrait II (after the Life Mask of William Blake) 1955
  © Estate of Francis Bacon
• Ian Breakwell
  Keep Things as They Are: In Mysterious Ways 1981
  © The estate of Ian Breakwell
• Chris Ofili
  No Woman No Cry 1998
  © Courtesy Chris Ofili - Afroco and Victoria Miro Gallery
• Georg Baselitz
  Large Head 1966
  © Georg Baselitz 2002
• Peter Blake
  Illustration to the cover of `Face Dances' 1981
  © Peter Blake 2002. All rights reserved, DACS
• Jim Dine
  Drag - Johnson and Mao 1967
  © Jim Dine
• Lucian Freud
  Francis Bacon 1952
  © Tate
• Jean Fautrier
  Large Tragic Head 1942
  © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002
• British ? School
  [title not known] 0000
  Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996
• Gary Hume
  Young Woman 1998
  © Gary Hume
• Cecil Collins
  Head 1974
  © Tate
• Phil Collins
  Caca 2001
  © Phil Collins, courtesy Kerlin Gallery, Dublin
• Frank Auerbach
  Jake 1990
  © Frank Auerbach
• Marlene Dumas
  Lucy 2004
  © Marlene Dumas
• Dame Elisabeth Frink
  Goggled Head 1973
  © Frink Estate
• Günter Brus & Arnulf Rainer
  No, Daphne, No! 1984
  © Günter Brus & Arnulf Rainer
• Gilbert & George
  Happy 1980
  © Gilbert and George
• Joseph Highmore
  Head of an Old Woman 0000
  Presented by Mrs Joan Highmore Blackhall and Dr R.B. McConnell 1986
• Henry Moore OM, CH
  Mask 1928
  © The Henry Moore Foundation. This image must not be reproduced or altered without prior consent from the Henry Moore Foundation
• Nigel Henderson
  Head of a Man 1956
  © The estate of Nigel Henderson
• Alex Katz
  Dark Eyes 2000
  © Alex Katz. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2002