Name of the game is Tate's DIY label

The vocabulary of art can be a mystery to the uninitiated. For every gallery visitor acquainted with the history of Abstract Expressionism there may be 10 who see only splashy daubs.

For the initiated, descriptions of the "tensions between forms" or references to the "stock images of Christian iconography" all helpfully illuminate the masterpiece before them. But for the enthusiastic amateur, such a label may convey nothing of what they see.

Tate Britain is now offering art-lovers baffled by official descriptions of their favourite works a chance to write their own labels. From this week, visitors - in person or through Tate Online - can select a work from the displays and submit a label explaining what the work means to them.

A selection of the labels will be placed alongside the works for British Art Week, which starts on September 20 and celebrates British art with new displays from the Tate stores.

Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, says: "This initiative gives us an opportunity to reflect the clear passion felt by our visitors, some of whom make pilgrimages to see the icons in the British art displays, while complementing the scholarly texts that accompany the works. I'm looking forward to reading the thoughts and ideas of our visitors."

The Tate is particularly keen to hear from visitors with a special interest in the subject matter of works, or from those who know places depicted in paintings.

The selection of works includes displays devoted to the Victorian painter G.F. Watts, Virginia Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell, Francis Bacon, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Long and a group of recent acquisitions of work by Tracey Emin. They join the permanent major displays dedicated to John Constable and J.M.W. Turner.

Tate Britain holds the national collection of British art that goes back to 1500.

Sarah Hyde, the gallery's head of interpretation, said the Tate aimed to produce labels that could be understood even by those who did not know a lot about art.

But she admitted that conveying some of the ideas of contemporary art could be difficult.

"We try to keep our captions quite short - about 100 words long - so that we don't wear people out and it is probably more difficult to give a pointer to a modern work in 100 words than it is to a Victorian narrative painting."

When Tate Britain opened its new galleries in 2001 it included labels contributed by famous people, such as Michael Palin, discussing their favourite paintings. These have proved highly popular.

Subsequently, special children's labels have been introduced where youngsters can lift a flap and discover information underneath.

- INDEPENDENT