Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–5pm
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Gallery Road
London
SE21 7AD
The closest train stations are West Dulwich and North Dulwich Station
which you can access from National Rail.
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery that was designed by the famous architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. It actually is the oldest picture gallery in England.
The history of the gallery starts in 1605 when, Edward Alleyn (1566 - 1626), Queen Elizabeth I's favorite actor, buys the manor of Dulwich and found the Dulwich College in 1619. He bequeathed the college a collection of works including portraits of the kings and queens of England when he passed away in 1626. In 1686, it's another actor William Cartwright who bequeaths a collection of 239 pictures. That's how the collection of the gallery started.
In 1811, Soane starts the construction of the gallery we know today and three years later, in 1814, the paintings move into the gallery but it doesn't open to the public until 1817. The gallery is then expanded in 1938 and, in 1994, separated from the Dulwich college and becomes an independent charitable trust.
Between 1995 and 2000, the gallery closes for a massive refurbishment. It reopens on May 25th of 2000 and now included a new cafe, a lecture theatre, and the award-winning Sackler Centre for Arts Education.
The Gallery owns one of the finest collections of Old Master paintings in the world especially rich in French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings and in British portraits from Tudor times to the 19th century. Famous works include those by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Poussin, Watteau, Canaletto, Rubens, Veronese and Murillo amongst many others.
Featuring more than 30 outstanding artworks, the exhibition includes large-scale pieces, a site-specific installation and a new commission by Michaela Yearwood-Dan. The works span painting, photography, film, textile and collage from leading artists. Soulscapes will explore our connection with the world around us, highlighting the power of landscape art and reflecting on themes of belonging, memory, joy and transformation.