A new exhibition of early 20th-century Estonian painter Konrad Mägi at Dulwich Picture Gallery has received a scathing critical review. The reviewer finds Mägi's colorful, modernist-influenced landscapes and portraits to be bland, derivative, and devoid of the emotional depth or urgency found in the great modernists or the gallery's own Old Master collection.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, the world's oldest purpose-built public art gallery, is opening a new £5m pavilion and sculpture garden in September 2025. The redevelopment includes the ArtPlay Pavilion designed by Carmody Groarke with artists Sarah Marsh and Stephanie Jefferies, a family cafe, and the expanded Lovington Sculpture Meadow featuring works by Amy Stephens, Tai Shani, Nika Neelova, and Harold Offeh. A two-day ArtPlay Festival on September 6-7 will celebrate the unveiling with workshops, printmaking, storytelling, and performances.
Rachel Jones, a 34-year-old British artist, is preparing for a major retrospective at Dulwich Picture Gallery, her first institutional solo show in the UK and the museum's first solo exhibition of a contemporary artist in its main space. After graduating from the Royal Academy Schools in 2019, Jones was quickly represented by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, had work acquired by the Tate, and exhibited at Chisenhale Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, and the Hepworth Wakefield. She has since left gallery representation, expanded into sound and performance, and created a short opera titled 'Hey Maudie' (2023), now being developed into a full-length opera. Her upcoming show at Dulwich, 'Gated Canyons', will pair her large-scale abstract paintings with works from the museum's collection, and she also has a site-specific commission at the Courtauld Gallery opening in September.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, recognized as England’s oldest public art gallery, is offering free admission to its permanent collection from March 10 to March 15. The initiative is part of National Lottery Open Week, a nationwide event that grants public access to historic sites funded by the National Lottery. Visitors can view the gallery's extensive collection of over 600 European masterpieces, including works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, and Van Dyck, by presenting a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard.
Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London will open a newly transformed sculpture garden to the public on 6-7 September, as the centerpiece of its £5m Open Art project. The redevelopment reclaims previously underused green space for a rotating programme of contemporary art on two-year loans, alongside permanent works including a land art piece by Kim Wilkie, an ArtPlay Pavilion designed by HoLD Collective and Carmody Groarke, and a new entrance restoring elements of John Soane's 1811 plans. The project is funded by principal donor The Lovington Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust, the Manton Foundation, and a public campaign, as the gallery receives no regular government funding.
Tai Shani, a London-based artist born in 1976, is the subject of a podcast episode in the "A brush with…" series. She discusses her multidisciplinary practice, which draws on cultural forms, historical events, and theoretical ideas to create fantastical, utopian worlds infused with contemporary political and social themes. Shani reflects on the gendered nature of her mediums, the influence of works like John Everett Millais's *Ophelia* and Valie Export's exhibition at Camden Art Centre, and the revolutionary potential of art in an era of right-wing politics. The episode also covers her upcoming exhibitions: *The Spell or The Dream* at Somerset House (August–September 2025), *Gathering* in London (September–November 2025), a sculpture at Dulwich Picture Gallery's new sculpture park, and her High Line commission in New York, on view through March 2026.
The Denver Art Museum has opened a new exhibition titled “The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism,” organized in collaboration with the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. The show brings together over 100 paintings and objects from nearly 50 international museums and private collections, highlighting Pissarro’s role as a foundational Impressionist. The exhibition’s title comes from a letter in which Pissarro described his artistic approach as “honest,” emphasizing a realistic, detail-oriented style that contrasted with the more radical tendencies of his peers. Works on view include “Lordship Lane Station, East Dulwich” (1871) and “The Garden of Les Mathurins, property of the Deraismes Sisters, Pontoise” (1876), which showcase his nuanced use of color and texture, as well as his engagement with social and political themes.
This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three major topics. Host Ben Luke interviews painter Rachel Jones about her exhibition 'Gated Canyons' at Dulwich Picture Gallery, which features both giant and tiny works. Contemporary art correspondent Louisa Buck reviews the Liverpool Biennial 2025, titled 'BEDROCK', held at the Walker Art Gallery. The episode also features writer Charlie Porter discussing the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, a commemorative work made of 42 quilts and 23 individual panels honoring 384 individuals affected by HIV and AIDS, currently installed at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.
South London abstract artist Courtenay Kusitor is set to debut her first solo exhibition, "Unconscious / Conscious / Aligned," at the historic Carnegie Library in Herne Hill from April 18–20, 2026. The showcase features three years of expressive abstract paintings created during the artist's recovery from a near-fatal spinal injury sustained during a winter storm. By incorporating a curated selection of books alongside her canvases, Kusitor offers a window into the philosophical and psychological frameworks that informed her creative process.
A collection of 27 original woodblocks hand-carved by British artists Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood, dating from 1930 to 1950, was rescued from an eBay sale through collaboration between the artists' heirs and the Art Loss Register (ALR). The blocks, believed missing or stolen since the 1950s, were listed on eBay last summer, prompting the family—including daughter Anne Ullman and granddaughter Ella Ravilious—to contact the ALR to halt the sale. The blocks have now been catalogued and split between The Fry Art Gallery in Suffolk and Towner Eastbourne, where they are on public display.