Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth's art has always appealed to me. I remember her sculptures from my visits to the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Holland. I think she was somewhat overshadowed by her contemporary, Henry Moore. Although I know little about art—though still more than most other subjects—Hepworth is, in my opinion, more subtle and therefore more powerful than Moore, if that's possible. Perhaps it's a good thing I don't write about art very often.

Over the years, I've visited Barbara Hepworth's museum in her birthplace of Wakefield (the Hepworth Wakefield) several times. I remember writing at the museum's opening, around 2010, that it was a prime example of how a museum could revitalize a city. I remember comparing the museum to what the Guggenheim had done for Bilbao in Spain. However, this was a bit ambitious. I was there again recently and noticed that Wakefield hasn't become Bilbao.

However, the museum, designed by David Chipperfield, is magnificent, and so is the collection. But according to the museum, the collection is incomplete. Works from the 1940s, the period when Hepworth was reinventing herself and, among other things, began experimenting with weaving threads through her graceful wooden and stone forms, are still missing.

The Hepworth Wakefield has set its sights on Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red from 1943. It was created at a time when Hepworth was trying to combine raising her four children, including triplets, with her work as an artist.

The sculpture was purchased last year for £3.5 million (€4.2 million) by an international art lover. The British government is trying to prevent the statue from disappearing abroad, and has ruled that a museum can purchase it, provided the buyer receives compensation for their purchase. This means the Hepworth Wakefield needs to raise £3.8 million.

That seems to be working. The Art Foundation immediately provided £750,000, and now the National Lottery has added another £1.9 million. Together with donations from sculptors like Antony Gromley and Anish Kapoor, over £3 million has already been raised.

There are still seven weeks to go, and the mostly small donations of a few dozen pounds are still pouring in, according to the Art Fund, which is overseeing the fundraising. If it succeeds, there will soon be another reason to visit Wakefield. Perhaps it will even help bring the city a step closer to Bilbao.