Farleys House & Gallery, Home of Surrealists Lee Miller & Roland Penrose

02/06/2026

Now on display at Towner Eastbourne, this special loan from Farleys House & Gallery, brings a painting from Lee Miller and Roland Penrose’s home to a gallery just half an hour away - celebrating the creative connections that continue to link East Sussex today, much like the artists in the exhibition ‘Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism’ connected across borders in the 1930s.

In 1936, Roland Penrose helped organise the landmark International Surrealist Exhibition in London. Provocative and divisive, the exhibition sparked fierce debate. The AIA (Artists International Association) quickly responded to these divisions, hosting public discussions exploring these tensions.

Just weeks later, civil war broke out in Spain, prompting a new wave of artistic and political activism. Roland Penrose went on to play a leading role in the 1937 Artists Congress - where this painting was shown - and the Artists Refugee Committee, and later worked with Pablo Picasso to bring Guernica to England in support of Spanish relief efforts.

This painting by Penrose depicts his first wife, Valentine. Together, they moved to Spain during the Civil War and joined the workers’ militia in defence of the revolution.

See the painting for yourself at until 18 October.

Explore the home of Roland Penrose and Lee Miller at until 30 October.



📷 Winged Domino, Oil on Canvas, The Penrose Collection, 1937 by Roland Penrose © Lee Miller Archives, England 2026. All rights reserved. 📷Comrades in Art, exhibition install © Towner Eastbourne 2026

26/05/2026

👏Farleys House and Gallery is thrilled to be hosting the launch party of The Makers Directory x Wealden this Thursday 28 May!

It feels fitting that the home of photographer Lee Miller and artist Roland Penrose – a place where major figures of 20th Century art gathered – remains a vibrant hub for contemporary making.

From creative workshops and exhibitions supporting up-and-coming artists to commissioning local creatives for the gallery shop, Farleys is motivated in being a hub for Wealden artistry and imagination. This year, Farleys is highlighting their Yard Artists – makers who are based in out-buildings on site. Find out more on the Farleys website.

The Makers Directory is a hyper-local online directory celebrating the extraordinary depth of creative talent working across Sussex. It connects art-lovers, collectors and commissioners with hundreds of independent makers, artists and craftspeople - from ceramicists and jewellers to textile artists, illustrators and furniture makers - and is now expanding into Wealden!

This week’s launch party is set to be an exciting – and sunshine-filled event – made all the more special with local refreshment from and , food from based in Farleys’ yard, and flowers from artist .

The event also coincides with the opening of Farleys’ exhibition ‘Forest Inspired’, a celebration of our Wealden natural landscape and the Ashdown Forest, the largest public open space in the South East of England.

What a way to kick off The Makers Directory in Wealden!

📷Signpost, Farleys House, East Sussex, England by Tony Tree © Lee Miller Archives, England 2026. All rights reserved.

18/05/2026

🙌 intoducing ‘The Atelier’, a new space in the Yard at Farleys!

Here’s a peek at our first private lunch for a group tour, followed by a presentation by Lee Miller’s son, Antony Penrose. Once a part of Farleys’ working farmyard, this space now makes visits even more special with a dedicated room.

🍳Even more exciting is the fact that The Atelier is connected to the kitchen of Chloe Edwards of Seven Sisters Spices. Here, Chloe has been recreating Lee Miller’s original dishes for you to enjoy – a surrealist feast!

A flexible space – The Atelier will be a space reserved for groups to learn, relax and refuel. It will also be a space of creativity, for events, workshops, talks and more. We’re also opening the doors of the atelier to you, if you want a space to hold an exhibition, gathering, or anything else, it is available for hire.

Please get in touch with Farleys for hiring or with Chloe for private catering and supper clubs taking place here.

Swipe to the end for a surprise! 🐑

📸 The Atelier, Farleys 2026 ©️ Lee Miller Archives and Seven Sisters Spices

17/08/2025

17/08/2025

There are several works by Lee Miller on display at Farleys, as part of the house tour, and this one is regularly chosen as our visitors’ favourite.

The enigmatic 'Portrait of Space' allows the viewer to decide where their focus lies and what is happening. The cloud behind the frame, reminiscent in shape of a bird, is possibly alluding to how Lee felt at the time. Loving the adventure of the desert yet finding the expectations of the ex-patriot society stifling, she felt a longing to escape. In Egypt Lee was far from the buzzing art movement she had been a part of in Paris. In her letters to Roland, she often asks for news of the artworld, her friends, and for art publications even though she was well connected to several artists in the Egyptian surrealist movement 'Art & Liberty'.

‘Portrait of Space’ was first published in the London Bulletin in June 1940, along with Lee's photograph of her friend Dora Maar in profile. The image was seen by many of the Surrealist circle. Rene Magritte was particulary inspired by the image and used the shape of the torn fly screen in his 1938 painting Le Ba**er.

To see this, and many more of Lee’s photographs, book your visit to Farleys today (link in bio).

📷 Portrait of Space, Al Bulwayeb, near Siwa, Egypt 1937 by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved.

17/08/2025

There’s no dress code in the gardens here at Farleys, as wonderfully demonstrated here by astronaut* Antony Penrose in the 1950s 🧑‍🚀

In fact, we welcome the sartorially surreal with open arms!

*not an actual astronaut

📷 Antony Penrose as an astronaut, Farleys garden, Muddles Green, England c.1954 by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved.

03/08/2025

While the ‘Summer of 1937’ exhibition has come to an end here at Farleys, that doesn’t mean the end of our celebration of that summer of love!

1937 could be named ‘the summer of love’ for Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, who had recently met for the first time, as well as their friends; Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray, Ady Fidelin & more.

This facsimile of Lee & Roland’s photograph albums shows their summer holiday together, alongside their friends Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray, Ady Fidelin & more. This collection of memories demonstrates the freedom and friendship of these artists as WW2 looms on the horizon.

With a foreword by Antony Penrose, ‘Summer of 1937: Lee Miller/Roland Penrose’ is out now and available to order online via our website (link in bio).

12/05/2025

In our current photographic exhibitions here at Farleys you’ll see we have a bit of beach theme going on!

In the summer of 1937, Lee Miller was enjoying a whirlwind romance with Roland Penrose. And so the exhibition, ‘…The Summer of 1937’ showcases photographs by Lee Miller and Roland Penrose of this carefree time they spent together.

During that summer, Lee and Roland with their surrealist friends descended on the South of France to visit Roland’s good friend Picasso. This photograph was taken by Roland Penrose during the trip. Lee Miller is holding the hand of Roland and Picasso's great friend, the writer Paul Éluard. During the war he used his words as a weapon. In 1942 the RAF dropped thousands of copies of his resistance poem Liberté into occupied France, with Éluard having to go into hiding as a result.

See ‘Lee Miller, Roland Penrose – The Summer of 1937’ at Farleys House & Gallery. Visit our website (link in bio) for more info and booking.

📷Nusch and Paul Eluard with Lee Miller, Mougins, France 1937 by Roland Penrose © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk

26/04/2025

Did you know that the famous Glyndebourne Opera House is just a few miles down the road from Farleys House & Gallery?

In her specially designed study, Lee could satisfy two of her compulsions at once: reading cookbooks and playing her favourite operas at top volume🎵. Lee installed a new stereo system and built up a formidable record collection. The classics had become a new love in her life and the house was filled with the sounds of opera and Barack chamber music. Characteristically she quickly became very well informed, going to concerts in London and cherished evenings at Glyndebourne.

Lee and Roland often entertained friends at the weekend with a visit to Glyndebourne in mind, “opera guests come to lunch in slacks and sun tops carrying little suitcases then change into full evening regalia and go off in bright daylight to Glyndebourne a few miles down the road. As often as not they bring someone back with them.”

📷Lee Miller's study, Farleys House, Muddles Green, Chiddingly, East Sussex, England 2017 by Tony Tree © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk

23/03/2025

We are really excited to share with you our first exhibition of the year in Farleys Gallery which opens in just a two weeks today with work by Sussex artist, Natalie Frost, entitled ‘Looking Beyond’.

Through her tactile and other worldly art, Natalie explores the complex relationship between life, aging and the societal constructs of perfection. By mending, meshing and tethering discarded fabric, broken shells and worn threads, Natalie invites the viewer to consider ideas relating to deterioration and renewal both in the natural landscape and the human form.

It surely is a feast for the eyes, so do not miss this opportunity to see Natalie’s latest work on display in Farleys Gallery. ‘Looking Beyond’ runs from 3rd April – 25th May 2025.

Galleries & Garden tickets can be purchased for £10 or included in a Farleys House Tour ticket. Visit our website for more detail details (link in bio).

Image: 📸Work by Natalie Frost © the artist, England 2025. All rights reserved.