The idea for the fourth plinth committee came from Prue Leith in 1994 when she was president of the Royal Society of Arts.
She wrote a letter to the Evening Standard suggesting that something should be made to place on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Five years later, the first artwork of the plinth was placed.
1999: Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger
The Latin title of this statue means Behold the man, referring to the words of Pontius Pilate during the trial of Jesus, according to the bible. The image shows a man standing with his arms behind his back, wearing only a loincloth.
2000: Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow.
He intended to challenge and question man’s inability to learn lessons from the past with his sculpture of a head crushed between a book and the roots of a tree.
2001: Untitled by Rachel Whiteread
Discussing her inspiration for the artwork – a cast of the plinth in transparent resin placed upside down on top of the original, Ms Whiteread said: ‘After spending time in Trafalgar Square observing the people, traffic, pigeons architecture, sky and fountains, I became acutely aware of the general chaos of life in central London. I decided that the most appropriate sculpture would be a pause, a quiet moment for the space.’
2005: Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn
A 12 ft, 13 ton Carrara marble torso bust of Alison Lapper, an artist who was born without arms and shorter legs due to a condition called phocomelia. Created to explore representations of beauty and the human form in public space, it was recreated on an even more monumental scale for the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
2007: Model for a hotel by Thomas Schutte
An architectural model measuring 5 meters by 4.5 meters by 5 meters of a 21-storey building made of colored glass, designed to ‘feel like a sculpture of brilliance and light’.
2009: One & Other by Antony Gormley
For 100 consecutive days, 2,400 selected members of the public were allowed to spend an hour on the pedestal to do as they pleased.
For safety, the plinth was surrounded by a net and a team of six stewards. Gormley said, “It’s about people coming together to do something extraordinary and unpredictable.”
2010: Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare
This work depicts Nelson’s ship, HMS Victory, with sails made of printed fabric in a colorful West African pattern in a large glass bottle stoppered with a cork. The bottle was 4.7 meters long and 2.8 meters wide. The artwork was the first commission from a black British artist
2012: Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset
A 13ft bronze sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse. Unlike the other statues in the square honoring kings and military leaders, this commission was meant to show the ‘heroism of growing up’. It was unveiled by actress Joanna Lumley who called it a “completely harmless and cute creature.”
2013: Hahn/Dul by Katharina Fritsch
A 15ft blue sculpture of a rooster. The artist has described the rooster as a symbol of ‘regeneration, awakening and strength’.
2015: Gift Horse by Hans Haacke
The sculpture shows a skeletal horse without a rider. Haacke said he created the artwork as a tribute to Scottish economist Adam Smith and English painter George Stubbs — the horse is based on an engraving by Stubbs published in 1766.
2016: Really Good by David Shrigley
A 23ft bronze sculpture of a human hand in a thumbs up gesture with the thumb hugely elongated.
2018: The Invisible Enemy Shouldn’t Exist by Michael Rakowitz
The statue was a replica of a similar one that stood at the entrance to Nineveh’s Nergal Gate from 700 BC and represents a winged bull and a deity made from empty Iraqi date syrup cans. The original was destroyed by ISIS in 2015.
2020: The End by Heather Phillipson
The sculpture showed a dollop of whipped cream with an assortment of toppings including a cherry, a fly and a drone – which filmed passers-by and displayed it on an attached screen.