Wallace Collection
23 May – 29 November 2026
Opening in spring 2026, the Wallace Collection presents a major retrospective of Sir Winston Churchill’s
(1874-1965) paintings – the first substantial UK exhibition devoted to his art since his death.
Bringing together more than 50 works – around half from private collections that are rarely accessible to the public –
this exhibition will shed new light on a world-famous figure who was defined by politics but sustained by a lifelong
passion for painting.
Churchill began painting in 1915, at a moment of personal and national crisis. What started as a private refuge after
the Dardanelles catastrophe of World War I, became a lasting creative discipline. Over the next five decades he
produced more than five hundred canvases, painting wherever he travelled: in England, France, Italy and, most
famously, under the intense light of Marrakech.
Following a chronological approach, Winston Churchill: The Painter traces Churchill’s artistic journey from tentative
beginnings to bold, late works, revealing a painter of surprising range. Visitors will encounter sombre wartime scenes
and radiant Mediterranean harbours, alongside tightly observed still-lifes and the luminous Moroccan cityscapes he
painted as diplomatic gifts.
Churchill’s own paintings will be complemented by a small group of works by his artistic mentors and friends,
including Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) and Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949), which will help visitors to explore his
artistic development and influences.
Alongside these works, the exhibition will unfold the key thematic threads that
shaped Churchill’s creative life, including the influence of Walter Sickert (1860-1942) who encouraged Churchill to
experiment with novel techniques.
Early portraits painted in Lavery’s studio and the rare ‘war pictures’ made on the front line in Belgium capture both
the bleak mood of wartime Britain and the tentative steps of an amateur artist learning his craft. These will be
followed by Churchill’s deeply personal views of his beloved Chartwell, and the gardens and interiors of friends’
country houses – contemplative spaces in which he found respite from public pressures.
The exhibition will
showcase a large group of works from Chartwell, now managed by the National Trust, a major lender to the
exhibition.
As visitors move through the exhibition, the story will widen to Churchill’s fascination
with still-life painting, informed by the close encouragement of Nicholson. Here,
reflective silverware, bottles and ceramics reveal his pleasure in composition, colour
and texture. The exhibition then shifts to the bright landscapes of Southern Europe: the harbours, coastal towns and
villas of the French Riviera, Italy and the Atlantic coast, painted with rich colour and energetic brushwork.
Churchill’s profound attachment to Morocco will be explored, with the celebrated Marrakech scenes of Hotel
Mamounia, the Koutoubia Mosque and the Atlas Mountains, painted with an exuberance and confidence that mark
the high point of his artistic maturity. In these works, which he considered as the best he had done yet, Churchill
explores the chromatic contrast between the arid plain, the greens of the foliage and the snow-capped mountains
beyond. Churchill made six visits to Marrakech from 1935 to 1959, and in January 1943, famously persuaded US
President Roosevelt (1882-1945) to travel there with him. The painting he made for the President during that trip
was the only one he created during World War II.
A key theme of the exhibition will be Churchill’s evolving relationship with the Royal Academy and other artistic
institutions in both the UK and the USA.
Invited by the President of the Royal Academy, Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-
1959) to submit paintings for the Summer Exhibition in 1947, Churchill put forward two works (both featuring in the
new exhibition) into the ‘outsider’ category, under the pseudonym David Winter. When his identity was later
revealed, he was celebrated as the first Prime Minister to be exhibited at the Royal Academy and, the following year,
was elected Honorary Academician Extraordinary in recognition of his ‘eminent services to our Realm and People,
and … achievements in the Art of Painting’. This prestigious title conferred on him the right to exhibit at the annual
Summer Exhibition, which he did until 1951.
The most recent major retrospective of Churchill’s paintings took place in 1958, conceived and organised with the
support of US President Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) and Hallmark founder J.C. Hall (1891-1982). It toured North
America, New Zealand and Australia (known as the world tour); a version of this show then opened at the Royal
Academy in 1959. Winston Churchill: The Painter is the first major retrospective of Churchill’s art in more than 60
years.
Dr Lucy Davis, Curator of Paintings and co-curator of the exhibition, says: “Churchill approached painting with an
intensity that mirrored his political life, though he turned to the canvas for very different reasons. What emerges is a
painter who begins cautiously, inspired by Lavery and Nicholson, and who ends up forging a surprisingly bold visual
language of his own. This exhibition lets visitors see the private creative dynamics behind the public figure.”
Dr Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection and co-curator of the exhibition, says: “Churchill’s paintings reveal
a personality that is more joyful and more intimate than the statesman we think we know. The Wallace Collection
played a quiet, but significant, role in the Churchills’ wartime story, and we are proud to offer this deeper portrait of
the great wartime leader. It is a reminder that creativity can be both a personal solace and cultural force, and that
even a figure as monumental as Churchill found renewal in front of a canvas.”
A richly illustrated book accompanying the exhibition includes essays by leading Churchill scholars on subjects
including Churchill’s painting technique, his relationship with the artistic establishment, and the interplay between
his artistic and political lives. The catalogue is generously supported by The Elizabeth Cayzer Charitable Trust.
| Photo credit: Sir Winston Churchill painting in Belgium, September 1946 © Churchill Archives Centre, CSCT 5-6-160 (colourised) |
| Sir Winston Churchill, La Dragonnière, Cap Martin C267, 1930s. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Photograph by Howard Agriesti |
| Sir Winston Churchill, The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque C381, 1943. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd |
| Sir Winston Churchill, Jug and Bottles C176, 1930s. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Sotheby's |
 | Sir Winston Churchill, The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell C344, 1932. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Matthew Hollow Photography |
 | Sir Winston Churchill, Magnolia C183, 1930s. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Sotheby's
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 | Sir Winston Churchill, La Mala, Cap d’Ail C325, 1921 (with later reworking). Heritage Collections, UK Parliament. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Photo Courtesy: UK Parliament, WOA 7481
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 | Sir Winston Churchill, Cap d’Ail, Alpes-Maritimes C489, 1952. Royal Academy of Arts, London. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Photo: ©Royal Academy of Arts, London; photographer: John Hammond.
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 | Sir Winston Churchill, Cannes Harbour at Sunset C311, 1930s..Churchill Chattels Trust. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd.
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 | Sir Winston Churchill, Sketch of Lake Carezza, or ‘The Twenty-Minute Sketch’ C391, 1949. National Trust Collections, Chartwell (Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government in 1967 and transferred to the National Trust in 1984). Reproduced by kind permission of the National Trust. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd. |
 | Sir Winston Churchill, The Beach at Walmer C316, 1938 . America's National Churchill Museum at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. © Churchill Heritage Ltd.
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