Dulwich Picture Gallery

06/01/2023

Symbolist artists’ concerns with the fast-encroaching modern world manifested most clearly in their representations of the changing city, impacted by rural depopulation and, in their view, the root cause of man’s fundamental disconnect with nature.

Čiurlionis’ representations of the city are quite different. His architecture is futuristic, playful even with its bridges and terraces, with a hint of the World’s Fair, while strangely reminiscent of ancient structures. For Čiurlionis these are not empty cities of death but tower-dome and spire-filled, luminous spaces of possibility and imaginings.

Discover fantastical worlds like these this weekend. Book online and get 10% off via the 🔗

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, The City, 1908, Courtesy M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.

01/01/2023

Happy New Year!

The garden parties painted by Jean-Baptiste Pater show a type of outdoor entertainment which was then popular at the French court - although a bit chilly for this time of year! This light-hearted subject matter was perfect to decorate the walls of a vibrant Parisian townhouse, and Pater produced vast numbers of these scenes with wealthy French collectors in mind.

Jean Baptise-Pater, Fête Champetre, c. 1723–26

31/12/2022

What are your plans this evening?

Antoine Watteau was a master at depicting parties and festive occasions. On a loggia opening into a lush green park, an elegant couple executes the intricate steps of a minuet dance. The assembled party guests are absorbed in conversation or flirtation and pay no attention to the dancers. As viewers to this vibrant scene, we can imagine its many sounds: the rustling of silks, the chatter of voices, the tinkling of the fountain and the harmonious notes struck by the musicians on the right-hand side.  

Antoine Watteau, Les Plaisirs du Bal, c.1715-17

30/12/2022

It’s common to find yourself napping more often at this time of year. This painting by the Dutch artist Arent de Gelder, depicts an episode from the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Casting his bag aside, the figure of Jacob has lain down to sleep on the rocky ground. In his dream, he sees a ladder stretching from earth to heaven on which angels are ascending and descending.  

Arent de Gelder, Jacob’s Dream, c.1715

29/12/2022

And so to the pub: a great place for meeting friends, in moderation! Adriaen Brouwer’s characterful painting shows the lurid consequences of too much drinking. 🍻

Adriaen Brouer, Interior of a Tavern c.1630

28/12/2022

Is it time to write your Christmas thank you letters? This sitter’s desk is littered with letters, papers and receipts. The artist, Cornelis Pronk, has in fact signed his own name on the one of the letters on lower left side of the painting, a clever device allowing him to include his signature as part of the scene.  

Portrait of a Man, Cornelis Pronk, c. 1714

27/12/2022

Nothing like a festive walk!

This is one of Thomas Gainsborough’s early conversation pieces, featuring an unidentified couple, who seem to be members of the land-owning gentry. The wife holds a porte-crayon in one hand and a drawing in the other: Gainsborough has depicted her as an amateur artist.

Thomas Gainsborough, A Couple in a Landscape, c.1753

26/12/2022

Have you got the board games out yet? In this painting by Murillo, a young boy is being tempted to abandon his chores and join in a game of argolla – a game a little bit like croquet. Even the dog is expectantly waiting for his answer… (or perhaps for some crumbs of bread to fall!)  

Bartolomé Estéban Murillo,  Invitation to a Game of Argolla, 1665-70

26/12/2022

Have you got the board games out yet?
In this painting by Murillo, a young boy is being tempted to abandon his chores and join in a game of argolla – a game a little bit like croquet. Even the dog is expectantly waiting for his answer… (or perhaps for some crumbs of bread to fall!)  

Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, Invitation to a Game of Argolla, c.1665-70

25/12/2022

🧼 If you are doing lots of washing up after a festive meal today, spare a thought for this scullery maid and her vast array of scoured pots, pans, fire irons and kitchen implements! In the seventeenth-century Netherlands, a clean and organised kitchen was equated with moral virtue.

Scullery Maid, Dutch School c.1660

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas from all at Dulwich Picture Gallery!

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas from all at Dulwich Picture Gallery!

21/12/2022

It's the winter solstice ❄️

In his Winter series, Čiurlionis gradually reduces his colour palette with the paint barely present, like fugitive breath on a frosty morning.

M.K. Čiurlionis, Winter VIII, 1907, Courtesy of M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas.

20/12/2022

Are you stuck trying to find a gift for someone special? Why not give the gift of art? In 2023 they'll be able to enjoy three exciting exhibitions, fantastic new displays and join over 7,000 art lovers.

Get them a Friends membership in a few clicks - follow the ‘become a Friend’ link in our bio.

Photo credits © Anne Tetzlaff, Graham Turner

19/12/2022

The Gallery is looking extra colourful this Christmas, thanks to our official paint partner Mylands.

15/12/2022

Today is your last chance to take part in our Christmas raffle. Win incredible prizes like a 3 night art trip to Antwerp, hampers, prints and much more.

You have until 23:59 to take part.
https://dpg.art/christmas-raffle-2022

Generously supported by Visit Flanders

14/12/2022

As Čiurlionis experimented further, he began to reduce elements in his landscapes to the point of abstraction, which has led to debate around the rise of this art movement. We begin to see this in his trio of works Sparks, which are representations of the stars, temporary resting places of souls in Lithuanian mythology.

Discover his pioneering work this December. Get 10% off when you book online ✨

M.K. Čiurlionis, Sparks III, 1906, tempera on paper, 31.3 x 36.2 cm Courtesy M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.

11/12/2022

If you've been watching ITV's star-studded drama ‘A Spy Among Friends' you might recognise the walls of a certain gallery 👀

08/12/2022

‘I’ve been tortured and driven, educated, fathered by Rubens’

Have you discovered Anthony Daley: Son of Rubens yet? Anthony Daley's fantastic display responds to the artist’s lifelong obsession with Venus, Mars and Cupid by Peter Paul Rubens. Experience these breath-taking abstract works for yourself – included as part of your Gallery admission ticket.

07/12/2022

Get creative at 's late event on 14 Dec. They'll be open until 9pm, with discounts in the shop and a pottery workshop. 🎁🎄

Make your own pinch pot with Urban Potters to gift to someone special, or keep it yourself!

Find out more: https://southlondongallery.org/events/christmas-late-shopping-pottery-workshop-and-festive-cafe-treats/

07/12/2022

Pianist Petras Geniušas is one of the most prominent, versatile and adventurous Lithuanian performers.

Watch him perform a masterful programme of Liszt and Čiurlionis at the Gallery this Friday, at 6.30pm.

Final tickets: https://dpg.art/jZgiUm

03/12/2022

Discover breathtaking scenes like this as part of M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds.

Get 10% off by booking online using the https://dpg.art/ciurlionis

In Čiurlionis’ Sonata series, certain motifs occur frequently in a way that are suggestive of themes in a musical composition. In this fantastical scene pyramids are topped by ‘suns’, with high level, delicately supported bridges connecting worlds and contributing to the sense of double horizons where clouds or lightning are not always above. Čiurlionis plays with the representation of the triangle and dramatically emphasises it through the use of light and shade. The abundant palm trees represent reincarnation.

M.K. Čiurlionis, Sonata No. 7 (Sonata of the Pyramids), Allegro, 1909, tempera on paper, 76.6 x 59.7 cm. Courtesy M.K. ČiurlionisNationalMuseum of Art, Kaunas.

01/12/2022

It’s that time of year, and there are lots of festive events happening at the Gallery this month! Head to dpg.art/whats-on
Thanks to Pines and Needles for the beautiful Christmas trees 🎄

27/11/2022

In a letter to his brother, M.K. Čiurlionis wrote, ‘The latest cycle has not been finished; my idea was to continue painting it throughout my life, as long as I have fresh ideas, of course. This is the Creation of the World, not of our world according to the Bible, but another, fantastic world. I would like to expand the cycle to at least 100 paintings. I am not sure if I will.’

Discover this fantastic world for yourself - book online for 10% off full price tickets via the 🔗

M.K. Čiurlionis, Creation of the World. IX from the cycle of 13 paintings, 1905-1906. Tempera on paper, 36.3 x 31.5 cm. Courtesy M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas

25/11/2022

If you wander through the courtyard garden of today, you’ll be greeted by Osiris.

Commissioned as part of the creative partnership between Dulwich Picture Gallery and NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, Osiris is the vision of sculptor and mixed media artist .

Part human form, part tamarisk tree, the sculpture is populated with miniature scenes that have been inspired by the rich collection of artworks at the Gallery, and hand drawn by members of the local community.

The artwork is the third in a series of commissions and follows The Health Centre’s Quilt by Bamidele Awoyemi, Farouk Agoro and Livia Wang, a collective of artists from South London, and Bubble Dreams by artist Carolyn Defrin and set designer Paul Burgess. Read about these commissions and learn more about the work via the

The garden is open to the public, and just a short walk from the Gallery via Dulwich village.

Supported by NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, Prudence Trust, The League of Friends of Dulwich Hospital, Healthy London Partnership and South London Health Partnership, working with Community Health Partnerships.

23/11/2022

Fancy a Luxury 3 night Antwerp art trip for 2 people?

Featuring 3 nights accommodation, a meal for two, entry to 17 museums and unlimited city travel?

We've just launched a Christmas Raffle featuring this rather special prize and many others. All tickets go towards supporting the Gallery and what we do. Head to https://dpg.art/tYQWpZ to enter - makes sure it’s before 11.59pm on 15 Dec (see the page for full terms and conditions).

Thanks to Visit Flanders for their generous support, which comes in advance of our major 2023 exhibition Rubens & Women.

22/11/2022

This week we're taking part in the international campaign highlighting the vital role of retail in helping arts, cultural and heritage venues to survive and thrive. Get your Christmas shopping sorted online or pop into the Gallery shop if you prefer to browse in person.

From best-selling card packs, wrapping supplies and luxury crackers for the table to stocking fillers, cosy lambswool scarves, art books and great fiction titles, we have hand-selected gifts to suit everyone on your list.

You can enjoy FREE UK delivery with code FREEUK15 for online orders over £15 between 22-28 Nov. One use per customer.

🔗 tap the link in our bio to visit the shop

17/11/2022

Who needs Lapland? Start feeling festive at the Gallery with M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds and a number of magical events:

https://dpg.art/C3MzMe

04/11/2022

Have you seen our M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds shop range yet? Visit https://dpg.art/shop-ciurlionis to explore magical books, prints, clothing and gifts inspired by the exhibition.

03/11/2022

On 24 Nov cellist and musicologist Dr. George Kennaway will give a fascinating talk setting out Čiurlionis’s place in eastern European music and art. https://dpg.art/MWcqTj

Čiurlionis was one of the most unusual figures in both art and music around the turn of the 19th century. He created around 300 works of art and about the same number of musical compositions. In art, he included elements of abstraction within a realist idiom; in music, he brought avant-garde techniques into an underlying romantic idiom.

M.K. Čiurlionis, The Sun. 1907, Courtesy M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas

28/10/2022

Fancy joining a community of 7,000 art lovers? Become a Friend and enjoy unlimited access to our exhibitions, exclusive events, and discounted tickets to our main events programme. Learn more in the 🔗

21/10/2022

‘A world of the imagination, dreams, nightmares and the subconscious, of anthropomorphised nature and complex symbols with hidden meanings’… it’s been wonderful to see people lose themselves in our M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds exhibition.

Visit this weekend to discover your own new worlds or order your copy of the catalogue via the link in our bio to read more about Lithuania’s best loved artist from the exhibition’s curator .soriano.

📷 Photo credit © Anne Tetzlaff at Future Tense, October 2022, an evening of conversation in partnership with .lt, The Lithuanian Embassy in London.

20/10/2022

Today we're pleased to announce our exhibition for autumn 2023 - Rubens & Women.


Uniting a diverse range of painting and drawings, the show will be the first to challenge the popular assumption that the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens painted only one type of woman, providing instead a more nuanced view of the varied and important place occupied by women, both real and imagined, in his world.

If you’ve been at the Gallery recently you might notice a new visitor – Clara Serena, sharing a wall with Girl at a Window. Peter Paul Rubens’ portrait of his daughter Clara Serena, captures a unique moment between a father and his child. The long-term loan will also be featured in the show, but you can see her now!


Learn more: https://dpg.art/rubens-and-women

Image: Rubens,The Virgin in Adoration of the Child, c. 1616, Oil on panel, 65 x 50 cm. KBC Bank, Antwerp, Snijders & Rockox House; Peter Paul Rubens, Clara Serena Rubens, the Artist’s Daughter, c. 1620-3, oil on panel, 36.2 x 26.4 cm. Private Collection

15/10/2022

Strange, intense and magical'
Time Out
★ ★ ★ ★

'Mystical and magical'
Evening Standard
★ ★ ★ ★

The reviews continue to roll in for M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds. Discover mysterious works like this painting Serenity, where Čiurlionis takes us to a dreamlike, mystical landmass that lurks with intent, malevolent or otherwise, with what appear to be eyes gazing across at the viewer. Book now via the 🔗

Image: M.K. Čiurlionis, Serenity, 1904-1905. Pastel, charcoal on paper, 54 x 74 cm. Courtesy M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.

13/10/2022

Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot is the focus of this morning's fascinating episode of BBC Radio 4's In Our Time.

Our Morisot exhibition, in partnership with Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, opens in April 2023.

https://dpg.art/bbc-sounds

Sign up to our enews to be the first to know when tickets go onsale: https://dpg.art/mailing-list

12/10/2022

Yin Yoga | Dulwich Picture Gallery

Yoga returns to the Gallery!

Enjoy a series of six slow moving Yin Yoga sessions, with light streaming in on our Gallery walls. Starting 27 October.

Book: https://dpg.art/L8sHaz

The Gallery houses a collection of over 600 works rich in European masterpieces including Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Canaletto and Poussin.

11/10/2022

This Thursday, take part in after-hours exclusive viewing of M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds, featuring curator Dr Kathleen Soriano and contemporary Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytè. Lapelytè was the Golden Lion winner at the 2019 Venice Biennale, for her duration Al opera, Sun & Sea (Marina) which was performed continuously for 8 hours a day.

Soriano and Lapelytè will be discussing the mingling between music and art that is prevalent in both Lapelytė and Čiurlionis’ work.

Book: https://dpg.art/TFRHwu

Image: Sun & Sea (Marina) photographed by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

10/10/2022

Tomorrow as part of Mental Wealth Festival
we'll be hosting a free mindful drawing workshop - places still available, sign up here: https://dpg.art/Wp0PKj

We are proud to partner with City Lit.

05/10/2022

“I’d like to compose a symphony from the murmur of the waves...” M.K. Čiurlionis

It was while staying at the seaside resort of Palanga with Sofija for six weeks in summer 1908, that Čiurlionis completed Sonata of the Sea. According to family lore, Čiurlionis would cause concern by swimming far out to sea, returning with stories of intricate patterns in the sand and a fascinating world of plant life beneath the waves.

Tomorrow you can watch an online talk with curator Kathleen Soriano revealing more fascinating insights about the artist and composer, the subject of our current exhibition.

https://dpg.art/rN7pGp

M.K. Čiurlionis, Sonata No. 5 (Sonata of the Sea). Finale, 1908. Tempera on paper,73.2 x 63 cm. Courtesy M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art

04/10/2022

Discover more about Lithuania's best loved artist.

The M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds Exhibition Catalogue is available to order online or in person from our shop.

Order a copy: https://shop.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/collections/m-k-ciurlionis-between-worlds/products/m-k-ciurlionis-between-worlds-exhibition-catalogue