James Turrell Deer Shelter: An Art Fund commission (interior). © Florian Holzherr

The Art Fund’s first commission and most significant gift to the nation in nearly 100 years is unveiled at Yorkshire Sculpture Park on April 28 2006.

James Turrell’s Skyspace – a permanent work created in the park’s deer shelter – frames a square of sky with an aperture cut in the roof. The project has been paid for with £800,000 set aside to celebrate the Art Fund’s centenary and heralds a new phase in the organisation’s life.

Exterior view of the deer shelter. © Jonty Wilde

“The Art Fund is proud to be donating a major work by this internationally acclaimed artist to the nation,” said Art Fund director David Barrie. “We’ve done nothing like this since 1911 when we gave The Burghers of Calais by Rodin to the nation.”

“We are delighted it will be at Yorkshire Sculpture Park,” he added, “where it will be readily accessible and free of charge. We hope people will come from all over the country, and indeed from around the world, to experience this work.”

The Skyspace has been created inside a 19th century Grade II-listed building and is the culmination of an idea Turrell had in 1993. The work does not affect the landscape or disturb the tranquillity of the site, but harnesses the changing light of the Yorkshire sky in a peaceful chamber.

The artist at extinct volcano Roden Crater, Arizona. © Florian Holzherr

A former pilot, Turrell has always been fascinated by the sky and aviation. His work is now informed by his studies of mathematics and perceptual psychology, using light to create art installations. Most famously, he has spent 30 years transforming an extinct volcano in the Arizona Desert into a series of Skyspaces, outlining the beauty of the sun, moon and stars.

His Skyspaces gives visitors a heightened vision of the sky, with the effect of transforming it into a trompe l’oeil painting. An exhibition of Turrell’s light installations is also on show in the Sculpture Park’s Underground Gallery until January 7 2007.