The death of painter Sarah Cunningham at 31 last year was accidental, according to a new inquest.
The abstract painter, who was represented by Lisson Gallery, was reported missing on November 3 after a night out in London. She was last seen at 2:30 a.m. on November 2 on Jamestown Road in Camden.
Her death was confirmed three days later by the gallery after reports of a casualty on the tracks at Chalk Farm Underground Station.
On April 9, London’s Poplar Coroner’s Court determined that Cunningham had jumped down onto the northbound track at around 3:30 a.m. before walking into the tunnel. A train hit her 18 minutes later. In a statement sent to Artnet News, the coroner said, “Although she jumped down onto the track rather than falling, she did not form the intention to take her own life.” The report stated that the artist was intoxicated at the time.
Last November, Lisson wrote on Instagram, “We are devastated to confirm the death of Sarah Cunningham. Sarah was an incredibly talented, intelligent, and original artist who we have all called a friend. Her paintings are authentic, intuitive, and pure with the raw power to immediately foster connections with others – qualities reflected in Sarah’s own indomitable character.”
Cunningham was born in 1993 in Nottingham, England. She attended Loughborough University’s art program as an undergraduate, disregarding her mother’s wishes that she not pursue a career as an artist, and began making collages about how scientists use taxonomy to categorize the natural world. “I’ve always found that way of thinking problematic,” she told Artsy.
In 2018, Cunningham participated in the La Wayaka Current Artist Residency in Armila, Panama. She attended London’s famed Royal College of Art for an MFA in 2019, graduating in 2022. That same year, she had her first solo show at Almine Rech gallery in New York. The exhibition sold out the weekend before it opened.
Success continued to follow the next year, when Lisson Gallery added her to its roster. Lisson gave the painter her London solo debut in 2023 followed by a Los Angeles exhibition earlier this year.
In a 2022 interview with Art Plugged, Cunningham explained her art as a form of self-exploration. “Both looking at and making art, it’s a way of processing my life,” she said. “It makes me feel that my life is a part of this universe.”
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