Evening Standard Contemporary Art Prize: Get inspired by these famous paintings of London

For the first ever Evening Standard Contemporary Art Prize, we’re asking artists to capture the capital on canvas.

The prize, which we’ve launched together with Hiscox, will see one artist win a life-changing £10,000.

All you need to do is paint something based on the simple prompt of ‘London’.

Our brilliant city has already inspired a whole host of artists from Turner to Monet, all drawn to its capacity to be diverse, dramatic, peaceful and jam-packed with people - often all at once.

If you’re working on your entry but want to see how your creative forebears caught the city with their paintbrushes, look at our map of locations throughout London that have been immortalised in paint.

Many of the works are part of collections owned by Tate and the National Gallery too, meaning London's best places to see art have helped to preserve artists' ideas of the city through history.

St Paul’s Cathedral from St Martins-le-Grand, Thomas Girtin (1795)

This watercolour painting from 1795 is clearly a London of a different time, but yet its essence remains the same: busy, bustling, a place to work, wander, and bump into people that you know. Girtin made three versions of this view from St Martin's-le-Grand, one of which was rediscovered in 2015 and auctioned for £125,000.

London from Greenwich Park, JMW Turner (1809)

Turner is known for his dramatic seascapes, but his view of London from Greenwich Park is the epitome of peace and quiet, the hustle and bustle of the city far off in the hazy distance. It was first exhibited in 1809 alongside Turner’s own verses, and now is part of Tate's Turner collection.

Hampstead Garden Suburb from Willifield Way, William Ratcliffe (1914)

Ratcliffe shows Hampstead Garden Suburb from quiet Willifield Way. The artist lived here himself in a new development between Golders Green and East Finchley, with the building of public railways making journeys to work easier, and therefore the growth of peaceful suburban homes.

Willesden Junction, Leon Kossoff (1966)

This semi-abstract work of North West London was made from Kossoff’s Willesden Green studio in 1971.

He drew scenes from life before he started to paint - this one shows the train tracks of Willesden Junction station.

He once said, "something happens when you see Willesden Junction stretching out in front of you. What else can you do but draw it?"

Richmond Park, Spencer Gore (1914)

Gore, who was the first president of the Camden Town Group of artists, painted this view of Richmond Park - and 24 others of the same subject. He lived only a short distance away in Cambrian Road, but his fascination with painting outside led him to die prematurely in 1914 from pneumonia.

Fox Hill in Upper Norwood, Camille Pissarro (1870)

Pissarro painted Fox Hill when he lived in Upper Norwood during the Franco-Prussian War, the same time that Monet escaped to England. He painted many views of Norwood and Sydenham, which are now important historical documents - many of the houses along those streets have now been rebuilt, meaning they now look very different.

The Thames Below Westminster, Claude Monet (1871)

Monet moved to London during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1, where he took to painting its parks and views from the Thames.

In this painting, London’s landmarks are far off in the background but still immediately recognisable.

It will be on display, along with some of Monet's other paintings of London, for the National Gallery's Monet and Architecture exhibition, opening in Spring 2018.

Swiss Cottage, Stanislawa de Karlowska (1914)

Polish-born artist Karlowska painted this scene from the nearby road where she lived with her husband, fellow artist Robert Bevan. Much of this area has been redeveloped - the yellow building was once a dairy - but the rebuilt Ye Olde Swiss Cottage pub remains in the same spot.

Greenwich Hospital, Canaletto (c. 1750)

Canaletto, much-loved by the Royals, painted this view from the north bank of the Thames. No one is quite sure how this painting originated, but some think it may have been made to mark the completion of Greenwich Hospital in 1751. You can see it yourself at the Queen's House, where Royal Museums Greenwich house a stunning art collection.

Brixton in James Fitton’s London Landscape (1948)

Royal Academician Fitton didn’t move to London until after he was 30 - before that he went to art evening classes in Manchester with fellow pupil LS Lowry. He captured a Brixton street in his London Landscape painting, saying that he saw a derelict shop window covered in flyers that seemed to be “blooming like a flower in such a drab setting”. It's now part of the Museum of London's collection.

Port of London, William Roberts (1920-4)

Roberts spent four years creating this work of the London docks in the 1920s, capturing his fascination with the Thames and the people who worked on it. He wanted to show the social activity in London’s scenes and crowds, which he does here by showing dockworkers hard at work in a busy scene. It's part of Tate's collection but is currently on display at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.

Battersea Bridge, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1875)

This view of the Thames by night from the Old Battersea Bridge is arresting enough, but wait until you hear about the controversy that accompanies it. At the time, John Ruskin wrote that the painting was like ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’ (not a fan then) so Whistler went on to sue him for libel. He won the case, but was only awarded a farthing in damages. Find out if it's really as offensive as Ruskin thought it was at Tate Britain, where it's currently on display.

Victoria Embankment Gardens, Charles Ginner (1912)

The creation of Victoria Embankment between 1864 and 1870 transformed the city, brightening up the public parks and reclaiming the river bank. Camden Town Group member Charles Ginner captures their gardens here, with the full glory of summer foliage giving a burst of colour ahead of the Westminster skyline in the background. ​

Bayswater Road, Paul Sandby (1806)

Sandby started out as a map-maker before becoming a watercolour landscape painter and a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768. His background in maps perhaps explains the commanding authority he has over a scene, as shown in his painting of Bayswater Road. It is now owned by Nottingham City Museums & Galleries, in the city where Sandby hailed from.

Mornington Crescent, Frank Auerbach (1965)

Auerbach has lived and worked in Mornington Crescent since the 1950s, and here he depicts the street on a summer morning. The intense colours and energetic brushstrokes capture a part of London that is characterised by movement and colour.

Elephant and Castle Station, Walter Bayes (1918)

Our city’s capacity to carry on through shattering events is captured here in Walter Bayes’ painting, The Underworld: Taking Cover in a Tube Station During a London Raid, showing civilians sheltering in Elephant and Castle during an air raid in 1918. It is undoubtedly the artist’s most famous painting, and is owned by the Imperial War Museum where it is currently on display in London.

Walter Steggles, Bow Bridge (date not known)

Steggles was a member of the East London Group, a collective of working class artists who exhibited work together from 1928 to 1936. He went on to exhibit work at the 1936 Venice Biennale. His painting of a bridge in Bow shows an uncharacteristically quiet side of the East End.

To find out more about the prize, which closes on September 24, go to standard.co.uk/artprize