What the modernists saw in Alfred Wallis
Alfred Wallis occupies an awkwardly comfortable place in the history of British modernism.
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Exhibitions
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Alfred WallisPallant House Source. 
Monica Poole (1921–2003) Herbage, 1979 Wood Engraving 13 x 17 cmThe Brown Collection Source. Monica Poole’s dark visions of nature return to view
A piece of flint, a tangle of vegetation, the worn contours of a bone: Monica Poole found ample material for her imagination in things easily passed over on a country walk.
Luca Giordano (Napoli, 1634 – 1705), La Vocazione dei Santi Pietro e Andrea all’apostolato, 1665 circa, Olio su tela, cm 192x252Private Collection Source. Giordano’s fishermen emerge from private hands
Peter and Andrew are about to abandon their livelihood. Beside them, another fisherman remains absorbed in the catch, apparently oblivious to the encounter that will change their lives. That contrast between revelation and everyday work animates Luca Giordano’s The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, now receiving its first public showing at the MarteS Museo d’Arte Sorlini near Lake Garda.
Barbara Hepworth. Figure, 1933 Grey alabaster (Cumberland alabaster) 19 x 14.6 x 6.3 cm (7 ½ x 5 ¾ x 2 ½ in)Osborne Samuel Source. An early Hepworth in alabaster at Osborne Samuel
At just 19cm high, Barbara Hepworth’s Figure of 1933 might seem an unlikely work to hold its own in a company of celebrated British sculptors.
An interior view of the Fondation Beyeler’s new Wyss buildingPhoto: Mark Niedermann Source. Fondation Beyeler begins phased opening of expansion costing around £109.7m
Peter Zumthor’s three new buildings add 1,500 sq. m of gallery space, while the enlarged park opens with visitor numbers initially restricted.
L.S. Lowry, Level Crossing (1946), Oil on canvas, The Lowry Collection, Salford© The Lowry Collection, Salford Source. Lowry’s wider world comes into view at MK Gallery
A major retrospective opens in Milton Keynes, bringing the painter’s portraits, seascapes and early studies into the company of his familiar industrial crowds.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, 1830-1833Photograph: Courtesy the Iuchi Collection, on deposit at The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Photo by Norihiro Ueno Source. Beyond the Great Wave: Hokusai’s Complete Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji Opens at Dulwich
Dulwich Picture Gallery brings together all 46 prints from Katsushika Hokusai’s celebrated series for the first time in Britain, including exceptional impressions of The Great Wave and the rarely seen Blue Fuji.
Rembrandt van Rijn. St. Jerome Reading in an Italian Landscape, ca. 1653. Etching and drypoint, printed on Japanese paper, 259 x 210 mm. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1905.The Morgan Library & Museum (RvR 165) Source. Rembrandt’s lions lead an exhibition on art and exile at the Morgan
A new exhibition in New York brings together paintings, drawings and exceptional prints to examine the people and journeys that shaped Rembrandt’s world.
Artemisia Gentileschi a Firenze Source. Artemisia returns to Florence, while Orazio slips from the spotlight
An exhibition devoted to Artemisia Gentileschi’s Florentine years offers an opportunity to consider the distance between artistic reputation, institutional priorities and the quality of the paintings.
Michele Desubleo 'St John' (detail)Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna Source. Bologna brings long-stored Seicento paintings back into view
An outgoing Artemisia Gentileschi loan has opened a space for two less familiar paintings at Bologna’s Pinacoteca Nazionale. From 13 October, two depictions of Saint John the Baptist, one by Michele Desubleo and the other by Flaminio Torri and Simone Cantarini, return to public view after many years in storage.
Eric Ravilious, ‘The Westbury Horse’, 1939. On long loan to the Towner Collection.Towner Eastbourne Source. Holburne explores the chalk downs through Ravilious and his contemporaries
A new exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath examines how southern England’s chalk landscapes helped artists rethink landscape painting in the early twentieth century. Eric Ravilious joins William Nicholson, Paul Nash, John Nash, Tirzah Garwood and Peggy Angus in a selection spanning the 1910s to the 1940s.
Thomas Gainsborough Giovanna Baccelli exhibited 1782 Tate Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1975Tate Source. Tate Britain schedules Gainsborough survey for 2027
The planned exhibition will bring together 120 paintings and drawings for the 300th anniversary of Thomas Gainsborough’s birth, Tate says.
David Hockney, My Parents, 1977. Tate. Purchased 1981Tate Source. Tate Britain schedules David Hockney exhibition developed with the artist
Tate says its 2027 exhibition, planned with Hockney before his death in June 2026, will bring together more than 200 works on love, friendship and creative relationships.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Titus, the Artist's Son, about 1657© The Wallace Collection Source. Wallace Collection schedules Rembrandt and Titus exhibition for 2027
The ticketed collaboration with the Rijksmuseum is planned to reunite Rembrandt’s portraits of his son Titus with self-portraits and loans from five other institutions.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/27-1569), A storm on the River Schelde with a view of Antwerp, c.1555. Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust). Image: Courtauld Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/27-1569), A storm on the River Schelde with a view of Antwerp, c.1555. Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust). Image: CourtauldImage: Courtauld Source. Courtauld schedules Rego, Turner and O’Keeffe exhibitions for 2027
The London gallery’s newly announced programme also includes drawing displays and painted wardrobe panels attributed to Vanessa Bell, donated after more than a century in one family.
René Magritte, L’Ami Intime (The Intimate Friend), 1958. Oil on canvas, 72.6 × 64.9 cm. Reuben Collection.© 2026 ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London. Image published by the Courtauld. Source. Courtauld loans bring a £33.66m Magritte back into public view
Man Ray and Picasso join the Reuben Collection display. Auction records clarify the history of Magritte’s L’ami intime, while its route into the lending collection remains unconfirmed.
Robert Rauschenberg, Rasputin’s Revenge Early Winter Glut, 1987. On display at Tate Modern.© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Photo: Ron Amstutz. Source. Rauschenberg’s donated Gluts bring scrap metal and dance to Tate
Three Foundation gifts anchor the ARTIST ROOMS display. One appeared in a dealer’s priced preview last year, leaving its route from commercial offer to donation unexplained.
