Exhibitions finishing soon\u2026<\/h2> The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Peter Doig<\/h3>
Until 29th May at The Courtauld Gallery, London<\/strong><\/p> Scottish artist Peter Doig is widely regarded as one of the world\u2019s leading artists. In the 1990s he gained a reputation for his large-scale, immersive landscapes, which exist somewhere between real and imagined places. A rich array of influences are layered into his works, from film scenes to album covers. <\/span><\/p> In 2002 Doig moved to Trinidad, a place \u2013 along with the UK and Canada \u2013 that has many resonances in his paintings. He moved back to London in 2021 and set up a new studio, where paintings that were begun in Trinidad and New York have been worked up alongside fresh creations. <\/span><\/p> This exhibition at The Courtauld will include works that explore Doig\u2019s creative experience of transition through a variety of places, people, memories and ways of painting. \u2018We are excited to unveil this new exhibition of works by Peter Doig, the first since his return to London,\u2019 says Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen, head of The Courtauld Gallery.<\/span><\/p> \u2018The Courtauld\u2019s great Impressionist collection is a touchstone for many artists. It offers the perfect context to experience how Doig\u2019s work resonates strongly with the art of the past whilst charting new directions.\u2019<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Peter Doig\u00a0<\/a><\/p> Until 4th June at Chawton House, Hampshire<\/strong><\/p> Visit the Library this spring and find a beautiful artist\u2019s takeover by historian,\u202fwriter and illustrator Dr Eleanor Houghton. Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s wardrobe is stunningly captured in eight original illustrations, displayed alongside Chawton House\u2019s treasured piece of Bront\u00ebana, as well as contemporary fashion plates. \u2018Inside Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s Wardrobe\u2019 places focus on some of the remarkable garments and accessories worn by Charlotte Bront\u00eb. These brightly coloured, fashionable, even exotic items boldly challenge the preconception that Bront\u00eb and her famous protagonist Jane Eyre<\/em> were, at least in terms of dress, one and the same.<\/p> Also on display are four original illustrations, created especially for Chawton House, depicting clothing worn by Jane and Cassandra Austen. These take their\u202finspiration from fabrics found in Jane and Cassandra Austen\u2019s quilt, made c1811 and now held at Jane Austen\u2019s House<\/a>.<\/p> Find out more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> You might also like the best fashion museums to visit<\/a><\/strong><\/p> Until 4th June at Hever Castle, Kent<\/strong><\/p> For centuries, Henry VIII\u2019s wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn have been pitted against each other as queen and queen-in-waiting, respectively. Now, after research revealed that Catherine and Anne each owned a copy of the same prayer book, the similarities between the two women will be explored in a new exhibition at the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.<\/p> The 1527 prayer book belonging to Catherine of Aragon is on loan from the Pierpont Morgan\u2019s Library in New York, while the 1527 Book of Hours, which belonged to Anne Boleyn, is already on display in the Castle. By seeing them side by side, under the same roof for the first time in 500 years, visitors will be able to better appreciate how Catherine and Anne were \u2018arguably at their most divided, yet also united through perhaps the most peaceful of means: prayer,\u2019 says Hever Castle\u2019s assistant curator Kate McCaffrey.<\/p> Other highlights include a previously unexhibited panel portrait of Catherine of Aragon; a 16th-century panel, originally from Dunstable Priory, featuring the emblem of King Henry VIII\u2019s Tudor rose, fused with Queen Catherine of Aragon\u2019s emblem of a pomegranate; and portrait miniatures of all four of the queens featured in the exhibition \u2013 Queen Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Queen Mary I, and Queen Anne Boleyn and her daughter Queen Elizabeth I.<\/p> Buy tickets to Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers<\/a><\/p> You might also like Royal memorabilia: the most valuable, the most affordable and how to start collecting<\/a><\/strong><\/p> Until 4th June at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam<\/strong><\/p> One of the reasons many people visit Amsterdam\u2019s Rijksmuseum is to see up close the masterful everyday scenes painted by Johannes Vermeer. And in this new exhibition you can do just that, in what is being touted as the largest Vermeer exhibition ever staged. <\/span><\/p> This amazing selection of 28 paintings from the artist\u2019s very small oeuvre has been loaned from museums and collections across Europe, the United States and Japan. In an extraordinary gesture, The Frick Collection is lending all three of its Vermeer masterpieces: Girl Interrupted at Her Music<\/i>, Officer and Laughing Girl<\/i>, and Mistress and Maid<\/i> \u2013 the first time the trio have been shown together outside New York since they were acquired over a century ago. <\/span><\/p> Excitingly, recent research into The Milkmaid<\/i> has brought to light two objects on the artist\u2019s world-famous canvas: a jug holder and a fire basket, which the artist later painted over. The most recent scans have also revealed what is clearly an underpainting. <\/span><\/p> \u2018Vermeer\u2019s technique has always had something of a mystery,\u2019 says Gregor J.M. Weber, co-curator of the exhibition. \u2018With the discovery of a first sketch in black paint, we get a much better picture of his working method.\u2019<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Vermeer<\/a><\/p> Until 4th June at Derby Museum and Art Gallery<\/strong><\/p> A celebrated painter, graphic satirist, art theorist and social commentator, William Hogarth (1697\u20131764) is one of the most significant individuals in the history of British art. His works range from life-size portraits to stories told through multiple connected scenes, which he called \u2018modern moral subjects\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> \u2018No other artist defines our image of 18th-century Britain quite like Hogarth,\u2019 says Lucy Bamford, senior curator of fine art at Derby Museums. \u2018The works in this exhibition explore themes around national identity and what it means to be British.\u2019 <\/span><\/p> Produced in partnership with London\u2019s National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, over 40 of Hogarth\u2019s works have been brought together and are on display alongside paintings by Hogarth\u2019s contemporaries to tell the story of the Jacobite struggle to restore the exiled Stuart dynasty to the British throne.<\/span><\/p> Learn more about Hogarth\u2019s Britons<\/a><\/p> You might also like best museum and gallery memberships<\/a><\/strong><\/p> Until 25th June at The Wallace Collection, London<\/strong><\/p> Throughout her long reign, the Queen was often photographed with a clutch of corgis in tow \u2013 she owned over 30 Pembroke Welsh corgis during her lifetime. <\/span><\/p> In this exhibition at The Wallace Collection, one room is dedicated to photographs of Her Majesty with her canine companions, with each decade of her life recorded with a single image. The earliest image dates from July 1936 and features the young Princess Elizabeth playing in the garden of 145 Piccadilly \u2013 the London house where she lived for much of her early childhood \u2013 with a pair of dogs, Jane and Dookie. <\/span><\/p> \u2018We are honoured to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth with this display,\u2019 says Dr Xavier Bray, director of The Wallace Collection. \u2018The Queen devoted her entire life to serving the British people, but we hope that this display will show a more personal side \u2013 her deep love of animals and her abiding passion for her corgis.\u2019 <\/span><\/p> The display complements \u2018Portraits of Dogs: from Gainsborough to Hockney\u2019, which runs until 15th October.<\/span><\/p> Book tickets to The Queen and her Corgis<\/a><\/p> 20th May to 5th November at The Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed<\/strong><\/p> Anne Redpath (1895\u20131965) was one of Scotland\u2019s finest mid 20th-century artists. After training at Edinburgh College of Art she spent her formative years mainly in the South of France where she painted alongside Scottish colourists Samuel Peploe and George Leslie Hunter. She returned to the Scottish Borders in 1934 and 10 years later was elected as President of the Societyof Scottish Women Artists.<\/span><\/p> After moving to Edinburgh in 1949, Redpath became a prominent figure for a group of artists now known as the Edinburgh School. Characterised by an abiding passion for colour in their art, the group, which included Sir William Gillies, John Maxwell and Sir William MacTaggart, were recognised in London and Scotland as cutting-edge transformers of traditional genres such as landscape, interiors and still life. This is the first dedicated UK show of Redpath\u2019s work for 15 years.<\/span><\/p> Learn more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> Until 11th June at Compton Verney<\/strong><\/p> The recent pandemic had a major impact on in-person events. And while many communities adapted by putting their events online, nothing could truly replicate the collective joy of Hastings\u2019 Jack in the Green festival, or the raucous Haxey Hood game in north Lincolnshire. <\/span><\/p> As these traditional activities begin to re-emerge, \u2018Making Mischief\u2019 explores the shared creativity, resilience, identity and communality of British folk cultures and the vital role that dress plays within them. <\/span>Thanks to a \u00a3250,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, over 40 costumes \u2013 all made, customised and worn by people participating in local, seasonal customs \u2013 will be on display. <\/span><\/p> As the exhibition shows, certain themes recur throughout the various events and festivals \u2013 notably horses, music and dance. The child-focused Festival of the Horse on Orkney is characterised by girls dressing as highly decorated horses, with shiny, jangling costumes that have been handed down through generations. While the boys of South Ronaldsay island congregate on the Sands o\u2019Wright beach and use miniature ploughs to draw lines in the sand, learning the craft of the finely tilled furrow.<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Making Mischief: Folk Costume in Britain<\/a><\/p> You might also like the best museums of everyday life<\/a><\/strong><\/p> Until 18th June at the Harley Foundation, North Nottinghamshire<\/strong><\/p> The glass exhibition by Neil Wilkin and Rachael Woodman is inspired by natural and spiritual worlds. Visitors will step into a space where towering, improbable installations made from delicate blown glass sit alongside perfectly glittering pieces that would fit in the palm of your hand. Neil and Rachael are both masters in traditional hot-glass techniques and have been working collaboratively for over 40 years \u2013 yet this is their first exhibition together.<\/p> Learn more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> Until 18th June at the Harley Foundation, North Nottinghamshire<\/strong><\/p> Jennie Moncur makes vibrantly coloured tapestry weaving with geometric contemporary compositions, using centuries-old techniques. Jennie uses the same \u2018Gobelins\u2019 weaving technique that is used in the tapestries from the 17th century in the museum next door, and brings the artform into the 21st century in a technical tour-de-force. Expect flowers, geometric patterns, and a palette that will drench the gallery in colour.<\/p> Learn more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> When the railway arrived in Haslemere in 1859, artists were suddenly drawn to the area, attracted by the pre-industrial pastoral idyll they encountered. George Eliot, who finished her novel, Middlemarch<\/i>, in Haslemere in 1871, described it as \u2018\u2026a land of pine woods and copses, village greens and heather-covered (hills), with the most delicious old red or grey brick timbered cottages nestling among creeping roses.\u2019<\/p> Over the course of the following 50 years the charming market town became a magnet for a string of painters, illustrators, engravers and etchers, including Helen Allingham, Myles Birket Foster, Walter Tyndale, James Clarke Hook, Frederick Walker and Charles E. Wilson, as well as the famous illustrators, Kate Greenaway, Randolph Caldecott and Punch<\/i> cartoonist Charles Keene.<\/span><\/p> This exhibition will showcase the museum\u2019s collection of paintings and illustrations from 1859\u20131914 alongside loans from private collections, with the focus being on how this picturesque place in Surrey became so alluring for the flourishing artistic community that evolved there.<\/p> Until 25th June at the V&A Museum <\/strong><\/p> The first tides of hallyu or \u2018Korean Wave\u2019 rippled across Asia in the late 1990s before becoming a worldwide phenomenon that challenges the currents of global pop culture today. \u2018Hallyu! The Korean Wave\u2019 at London\u2019s Victoria and Albert Museum is the first exhibition of its kind to showcase the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea. The exhibition will explore the makings of the Korean Wave and its impact on the creative industries of cinema, drama, music, fandom, beauty and fashion.<\/p> Buy tickets to Hallyu! The Korean Wave<\/a><\/p> You might also like<\/strong> the best museum shops for buying gifts<\/strong><\/a><\/p> Until 13th August at the British Museum, London<\/strong><\/p> This exciting new exhibition at the British Museum considers the relationship between luxury and power in the Middle East and south-east Europe between 550\u201330BC, before the Persian empire was conquered by Alexander the Great. <\/span><\/p> Items on display include gold, silver and glass objects belonging to the Museum, alongside exceptional loans. \u2018Traditionally, we have viewed the Persians and their apparently \u2018decadent\u2019 love of luxury through the eyes of their enemies, the Greeks,\u2019 says Dr Jamie Fraser, a curator at the British Museum. \u2018This exhibition is a chance to explore beyond these biased accounts and understand how Persians wielded luxury as a political tool across a vast and complex empire.\u2019<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Luxury and power: Persia to Greece<\/a><\/p> A ground-breaking artist of her time, Lavinia Fontana (1552\u20131614) is widely considered to be the first female artist to achieve professional eminence beyond the confines of a court or a convent. She was the first woman to manage her own workshop, paint public altarpieces and also the female nude. <\/span><\/p> \u2018Fontana truly was a trailblazer for women artists, her story is still inspirational and paves the way for a society we still aspire to today,\u2019 says Dr Aoife Brady, curator of the exhibition. \u2018Unable to study in artists\u2019 academies like her male contemporaries, she learned her trade from her father, before running her own workshop. She continued to actively work throughout motherhood and had 11 children during the course of her career, while serving as her family\u2019s main breadwinner. A trailblazer both then and now, she continues to be a source of inspiration to women everywhere.\u2019<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker<\/a><\/p> Until 3rd September at Powis Castle, Wales<\/strong><\/p> Internationally renowned fine artist and textile designer, Kaffe Fassett, is bringing an exhibitionof his colourful work to Powis Castle.<\/p> \u2018Kaffe is a fantastic artist and we\u2019re honoured he\u2019s chosen us as his inspiration and backdrop for his new collection,\u2019 says Shane Logan, general manager at Powis Castle and Garden. \u2018To welcome an artist like Kaffe to Welshpool is quite something and we do anticipate fans from all over the world to travel here to see the exhibition. We hope local people will take full advantage of what\u2019s on their doorstep and experience something different and exciting this year.\u2019<\/p> Patchwork quilts, knitted shawls and throws, needlepoint cushions, carpets and furniture will be displayed in the State Rooms, and a special exhibition with seven new quilts from Kaffe Fassett\u2019s latest book, Quilts in Wales<\/i>, will be on display in the Gateway Room.<\/p> Find out more about Colour with Kaffe<\/a><\/p> Until 3rd September at Chawton House, Hampshire<\/strong><\/p> \u2018Quills and Characters\u2019 provides fascinating insights into stories of science and scholarship, love, and literature through the manuscript letters on display. These include letters written by mathematician Mary Somerville and her prot\u00e9g\u00e9e Ada Lovelace on loan from the Bodleian Library, letters written by the novelist and abolitionist Amelia Opie, and letters from the Chawton House collection never before displayed. Today, women\u2019s letters provide an unending and increasingly recognised resource for understanding their lives \u2013 both material and imaginative \u2013 for piecing together their social networks, fleshing out their biographies, exploring their self-construction, and uncovering the information they valued and shared.<\/p> In addition to retelling some of these stories \u2018Quills and Characters\u2019 considers the practicalities of letter writing, from making ink and sourcing paper to folding, sealing and postage. On display are objects used in composition, including novelist Maria Edgeworth\u2019s inkwells, travel writer Maria Graham\u2019s wax seal stamps, and a selection of 18th-century letter-writing manuals. Visitors will be encouraged to pen their own letters, or to take part in reading and transcribing early 19th-century letters.<\/p> Deputy director of Chawton House and curator of \u2018Quills and Characters\u2019, Dr Kim Simpson says: \u2018From brains and hands through ink and paper, across the country and overseas, and sometimes translated into print, letters provided insight into the private worlds of the first celebrities. From the mundane to the momentous, letters captured the everyday and changed the world. The mere act of writing a simple letter was often an international endeavour with quills imported from North America, ink components sourced from Aleppo and Sudan, and sealing wax from India. We write fewer letters now, yet \u2018Quills and Characters\u2019 is a timely reminder of the need for connectivity in a digital world.\u2019<\/p> Find out more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> Until 24th September at Petworth House, West Sussex<\/strong><\/p> This year marks 300 years since the birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723\u201392), first President of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) and the leading English portrait artist of the late 18th century.<\/p> The National Trust has the largest collection of his works in historic house settings in the UK and Reynolds\u2019 Studio Experiments<\/i> canvases will be the starting point for a major exhibition at Petworth House. Specially curated by the RA, \u2018Explorations in Paint\u2019 brings together artworks by current and recent Royal Academicians, all exploring the possibilities of paint and its expressive potential.<\/p> \u2018Reynolds advocated for art and art education, while also constantly looking and learning from the artists around him,\u2019 says Rebecca Lyons, director of collections and learning at the RA.<\/p> Buy tickets to Explorations in Paint<\/a><\/p> Until 15th October at The Wallace Collection, London<\/strong><\/p> After having to postpone due to the pandemic in 2020,The Wallace Collection has put its best paw forward in this exhibition devoted to man\u2019s best friend.<\/p> Dog portraiture developed as an artistic genre in tandem with its human counterpart and it flourished, particularly in Britain, from the 17th century onwards. \u2018Portraits of Dogs\u2019 features loans primarily from collections in the UK, and works were deliberately chosen for their lack of human presence.<\/p> \u2018Two of our most popular paintings are seminal dog portraits, Rosa Bonheur\u2019s Brizo, A Shepherd\u2019s Dog<\/i> (1864) and Edwin Landseer\u2019s Doubtful Crumbs<\/i> (1858\u20139),\u2019 says director Dr Xavier Bray. \u2018Bonheur\u2019s portrait is a superbly lifelike and intimate portrayal of her French otterhound, Brizo. By contrast, Landseer is more interested in introducing a biblical parable into his portrayal, exemplifying the 19th-century urge to moralise through dog portraiture. In his work, a small street terrier waits for the \u2018crumbs\u2019 from the St Bernard \u2013 a Victorian moral of the rewards that await in heaven for the meek amongst us.\u2019<\/p> Buy tickets to Portraits of Dogs<\/a><\/p> Until 17th December at The William Morris Society, Hammersmith<\/strong><\/p> Golden Lily, Blackthorn, Compton and Seaweed\u2026 for the connoisseur, these are all familiar Morris & Co designs. But what may be unfamiliar to you is that these patterns were all created not by the great William Morris himself but by his apprentice, John Henry Dearle. <\/span><\/p> Despite54 years of loyal service to the company, Dearle is a somewhat forgotten figure in the Morris timeline. <\/span>Throughout his time at the company, Dearle designed over 30 patterns for wallpaper and 40 for textiles. He worked hard and his congenial personality saw him rise from a shop assistant at the Oxford Street showroom to artistic director of Morris & Co. <\/span><\/p> In the late 1880s and 90s, when Morris became increasingly interested in political activities and book printing, it was Dearle he entrusted as principal advisor to the firm\u2019s customers, and as chief designer and head of the firm\u2019s workshops at Merton Abbey.<\/span><\/p> Dearle was a talented artist and pivotal to the firm\u2019s success, and this exhibition seeks to redress the lack of recognition through examination of Dearle\u2019s artistic output and his relationship with Morris.<\/span><\/p> Find out more about Morris\u2019s Successor: John Henry Dearle<\/a><\/p> Until 1st January 2024 at Bront\u00eb Parsonage Museum, Haworth, West Yorkshire<\/strong><\/p> Few authors are more closely aligned to the landscape that inspired them than the Bront\u00eb siblings, and a new exhibition will explore the influence of the natural world in their lives and work.<\/p> \u2018The Bront\u00eb Parsonage Museum leads directly out onto the moor and its closeness and the wild freedom it offered were instrumental in the lives of the young family,\u2019 says Ann Dinsdale, principal curator at the museum. \u2018In the paintings, drawings, poetry and fiction of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne, we see their escape into the landscape and \u2018The Bront\u00ebs and the Wild\u2019 will highlight the influence it had on their lives.\u2019<\/p> A central element of the exhibition is the Bront\u00eb family\u2019s annotated copy of Thomas Bewick\u2019s A History of British Birds<\/i>, recently acquired by the museum from the Blavatnik Honresfield Library. Other highlights include poetry manuscripts by Emily and Charlotte, early printed works by Patrick Bront\u00eb, copies from Bewick by Emily and Charlotte, and two wood blocks on loan from the Wordsworth Trust. First editions of Poems<\/i> by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell and Wuthering Heights<\/i> will also be on display.<\/p> Buy tickets to The Bront\u00ebs and the Wild<\/a><\/p> Until 14th January 2024 at V&A Dundee<\/strong><\/p> Celebrating tartan and its global impact, this exciting exhibition explores how tartan has connected and divided communities worldwide, how it has embraced tradition, expressed revolt, and inspired great works of art, as well as playful and provocative designs. More than 300 items have been gathered from over 80 lenders worldwide, meaning visitors will be treated to a dazzling display of objects, from fashion to architecture, photography to furniture, and glass to ceramics. Some of the key lenders include Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, The Royal Collection, National Trust for Scotland and National Theatre of Scotland, to name a few.<\/p> Throughout the exhibition tartan will be viewed in radical new ways as historical objects are juxtaposed with contemporary pieces, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the world of tartan. In addition, V&A Dundee has asked the public to contribute, culminating in \u2018The People\u2019s Tartan\u2019, an eclectic selection that is sure to spark recognition and nostalgia.<\/p> \u2018To mark our fifth birthday we are celebrating and challenging the history and contradictions within Scotland\u2019s most iconic design,\u2019 says V&A Dundee director Leonie Bell. \u2018Everyone knows tartan and it is linked to a hugely diverse range of identities. It is at once the pattern of Highland myth and legend, forever entwined with Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite uprising, as well as being the pattern of 1970s punks and contemporary Japanese fashion influencers. It is adored and derided, and somehow can represent unity and dissent, tradition and rebellion, the past, present and future.\u2019<\/p> Buy tickets to Tartan<\/a><\/p> Until 2025 at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) <\/strong><\/p> Curators have been delving into the riches of Scotland\u2019s collection of modern and contemporary art to bring to light rarely displayed yet fascinating artworks and stories. This major exhibition presents over 100 artworks in unexpected arrangements, finding bold juxtapositions and visual similarities across different styles and movements without using jargon or art-historical terminology.<\/p> The curators, Emma Gillespie, Leila Riszko and Stephanie Straine, have tapped into key ideas and issues of our times in a fresh approach that offers visitors a new way of understanding modern and contemporary art. \u2018With open-ended creativity at the heart of this big exhibition, we hope our visitors will feel inspired to rediscover their collection,\u2019 says Stephanie.<\/p> Highlights include a \u2018Madonna\u2019 lithograph by Edvard Munch, on long loan from a private collection, a vibrant still life by celebrated Scottish artist Anne Redpath, and Saturn by Helen Frankenthaler, which has not been on display for 10 years.<\/p> Buy tickets to Conversations with the Collection\u00a0<\/a><\/p> Until 2026<\/strong> at the Harley Foundation, North Nottinghamshire<\/strong><\/p> This display reveals works from the world-class art collection that have never been seen before in public and sheds new light on star items from the collection \u2013 such as a drawing by Michelangelo and Queen Mary\u2019s stunning ruby coronation ring. A highlight of the exhibition is a picture gallery stacked with Tudor and Jacobean portraits.<\/p> Learn more about the exhibition<\/a><\/p> 26th May to 16th August at The Gallery at The Arc, Winchester<\/strong><\/p> Constable has a reputation for being a painter of traditional \u2018chocolate box\u2019 English scenery; safe, unchallenging and sentimental, epitomised in works such as The Hay Wain<\/i>. But there was a darker side to him, which is explored in this exhibition at The Arc.<\/p> Constable faced many challenges in his private life \u2013 he was plagued by worries about his finances, his reputation in the art world and also his family. His wife, Maria, suffered from tuberculosis and his children were often ill. After Maria died aged 41, Constable was left to bring up seven children aged from 11 months to 11 years. This took a toll on his wellbeing and his art too.<\/p> We know so much about his mental state as Constable was an enthusiastic letter writer and poured out his anxieties in correspondence to family and friends. In this exhibition, the artist\u2019s own words and feelings will be displayed alongside some of his most famous works, which are on loan from key national institutions including the Royal Academy, the Tate and the V&A.<\/p> \u2018John Constable is such a well-known painter and someone we tend to associate with an untroubled sense of nostalgia, but he was actually an incredibly emotional individual and someone whose private life directly impacted his professional activity,\u2019 says curator and art historian Nicola Moorby. \u2018There is something so relatable about his constant worries as a husband and dad, and I think people will easily identify with his struggles with anxiety.\u2019<\/p> Book tickets to Constable: The Dark Side<\/a><\/p> 27th May to 1st October at Compton Verney, Warwickshire<\/strong><\/p> A staple for many children from the 1970s onwards, Quentin Blake\u2019s illustrations are unmistakable in their joyful freedom and expression of sheer abandon. A<\/span>dorning the pages of favourite stories by Michael Rosen, Roald Dahl, David Walliams, and, of course, himself, Blake\u2019s artworks never fail to ignite the imagination and help bring the stories to vivid life. <\/span><\/p> Compton Verney is staging a brilliant new exhibition of original paintings and drawings, created for bestselling books, hospital wards and past exhibitions. Visitors will be treated to over 70 images of real and imaginary creatures, intrepid characters and curious modes of transport, all on loan from Blake\u2019s personal archive. <\/span><\/p> \u2018There are lots of connections between what visitors will see on the walls of the galleries inside the house and the wildlife we have in the grounds of Compton Verney,\u2019 explains curator Oli McCall. \u2018Follow Quentin\u2019s lead, and take inspiration from the characters he has so memorably created, before embarking on your own adventures.\u2019<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Quentin Blake: Birds, Beasts & Explorers<\/a><\/p> 27th May to 14th October at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne<\/strong><\/p> Starting with the Pre-Raphaelites\u2019 ideal of \u2018truth to nature\u2019, represented by artists such as William Holman Hunt and John Ruskin, this exhibition traces radically different approaches to landscape painting. <\/span><\/p> Featuring pictures from the Laing\u2019s extensive collection as well as many loans, visitors will also be treated to works by British Impressionists including Ethel Walker and Philip Steer whose works are imbued with light and colour. Sketching in front of their subjects, they produced beautiful vistas of sunny hillsides, orchards and gardens, balancing scenes of relaxation with working farmland. <\/span><\/p> Newlyn artists and coastal painters similarly took their easels to beaches and sunny uplands, and the exhibition includes lovely scenes by Laura Knight, SJL Birch, and Elizabeth Forbes. While the Rural Naturalist scene is represented by George Clausen and Henry La Thangue, who aimed to capture the character of rural working landscapes.<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Essence of Nature: Pre-Raphaelites to British Impressionists<\/a><\/p> 8th June to 26th October at The Dairy, Waddesdon, Bucks<\/strong><\/p> After five years in the making, in her most ambitious commission to date, Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos has created a 12m-high sculptural pavilion in the form of a three-tiered wedding cake. <\/span><\/p> Clad entirely in ceramic tiles, Wedding Cake<\/i> is an enormous, fully immersive sculpture, combining patisserie and architecture. Gleaming with pink, green and blue icing, inside and out, the structure offers a richly sensory experience, with the sound of trickling water and a site-specific lighting scheme. <\/span><\/p> Described by the artist as \u2018a temple to love\u2019, her sculpture celebrates festivity and marriage. Wedding Cake <\/i>was commissioned by the Rothschild Foundation and is a contemporary response to the great Rothschild traditions of hospitality, with echoes of 18th-century garden pavilions, while representing the exuberant baroque buildings and ceramic traditions of Lisbon, the artist\u2019s home.<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Wedding Cake<\/a><\/p> 17th June to 8th October at The Courtauld Gallery, London<\/strong><\/p> Forgeries are usually deemed to be unworthy of display: a costly embarrassment once their real origins are deciphered. Yet in this exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery that is exactly what\u2019s happening to them. <\/span>Remarkable forgeries, originally thought to be masterpieces by artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, John Constable and Auguste Rodin will be exhibited this summer. <\/span><\/p> Featuring around 25 drawings and seven paintings, as well as sculpture and decorative art from The Courtauld\u2019s collection, the showcase will tell the intriguing stories behind the creation of these works and the discovery of the deceptions.<\/span><\/p> Buy tickets to Art and Artifice: Fakes from the Collection<\/span><\/a><\/p> 21st June to 10th September at Garden Museum, London<\/strong><\/p> This summer, the Garden Museum is shining a light on Jean Cooke RA (1927\u20132008).<\/p> Historically underrated, Cooke created some remarkable garden paintings and expressive portraiture and this display of her works will seek to bring her new fans. The 30 paintings in the exhibition have been gathered from both public and private collections and, along with the catalogue, will provide the most comprehensive exploration of the artist\u2019s life and art to date.<\/p> The works on display will include paintings of trees and flowers, a poppy-strewn meadow, wildflowers against a backdrop of the sea, an orchard in bloom, and Cooke\u2019s beloved doves. Her gardens were predominantly uncultivated as she left nature to its own devices. She painted them with lyrical enjoyment and wit, and with an inventiveness that displays a deep understanding of her subjects.<\/p> At the centre of the exhibition will be two substantial canvases from the 1960s, Toujours en F\u00eate<\/i> (1969) and Hortus Siccus<\/i> (1967).<\/p> Library takeover: Inside Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s Wardrobe<\/h3>
Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers<\/span><\/h3>
Vermeer<\/h3>
Hogarth\u2019s Britons: Succession, Patriotism, and the Jacobite Rebellion<\/h3>
The Queen and her Corgis<\/h3>
This week why not visit\u2026<\/h2>
Anne Redpath and her Circle<\/span><\/h3>
Making Mischief: Folk Costume in Britain<\/h3>
Harvest: Fruit Gathering<\/h3>
Interrupted Views<\/h3>
Haslemere Artists: A Golden Era<\/span><\/h3>
Hallyu! The Korean Wave<\/h3>
Luxury and power: Persia to Greece<\/span><\/h3>
Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker<\/span><\/h3>
Until 27th August at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin<\/h4>
Colour with Kaffe: a textile exhibition at Powis Castle<\/h3>
Quills and Characters<\/h3>
Explorations in Paint<\/h3>
Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney<\/span><\/h3>
Morris\u2019s Successor: John Henry Dearle (1859-1932)<\/b><\/h3>
![\""Seaweed\"](\""https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/Seaweed1901WMSCollection-1-347409c.jpeg?resize=150%2C150"\" "\\"\"Seaweed\\"\/")
<\/figure> The Bront\u00ebs and the Wild<\/h3>
Tartan<\/h3>
Conversations with the Collection<\/h3>
Unseen Treasures of The Portland Collection<\/h3>
Exhibitions opening soon\u2026<\/h2>
Constable: The Dark Side<\/h3>
Quentin Blake: Birds, Beasts & Explorers<\/h3>
Essence of Nature: Pre-Raphaelites to British Impressionists<\/span><\/h3>
Joana Vasconcelos: Wedding Cake<\/h3>
![\""Joana\"](\""https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-22-at-14.39.21-577a55b.png?resize=150%2C150"\" "\\"\"Joana\\"\/")
<\/figure> Art and Artifice: Fakes from the Collection<\/span><\/h3>
Jean Cooke: Ungardening<\/h3>
![\""Exhibitions:\"](\""https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/TBM-The-Silver-Swan-Credit-The-Bowes-Museum-7035031.jpg?resize=150%2C150"\" "\\"\"Exhibitions:\\"\/")
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