Still Lives

UH Arts + Culture and St Albans Museum + Gallery are delighted to present a new exhibition focusing on the theme of still life. 

This touring exhibition from the renowned Hepworth Wakefield brings prominent artworks to St Albans – on display are works ranging from the early seventeenth century Dutch masters to recent pieces by Turner Prize winners and nominees.

^{Rene Matić, Southbank Centre Dressing Room II, London, 2023. Courtesy of The Artist and Arcadia Missa, London. Photo: Nathan Vidler}

Still Lives displays more than 50 works by over 30 artists across the Weston Gallery, illustrating the enduring nature of the still life genre throughout different periods in art history, including post-impressionism, British modernism, surrealism and contemporary art.

The exhibition reflects upon the enduring inspiration artists have found in everyday objects, from an interest in colour and form, to a desire to capture their impermanence.

While still life is traditionally associated with painting, the exhibition features works from a range of artistic mediums including sculpture, photography, ceramics, painting and works-on-paper.

^{Nicolaes van Verendael, Still Life with a Lobster, 1678}

The exhibition displays three of the oldest artworks in Wakefield’s art collection by renowned Dutch masters – Jacob Foppens van Es, Willem Ormea and Nicolaes van Verendael – that date back as far as 1649, highlighting the emergence of still life painting in the Netherlands. These will be presented in dialogue with contemporary artworks by artists, including Caroline Walker, Anthea Hamilton, Rene Matić, Eva Rothschild and Veronica Ryan – proposing unlikely conversations.

New additions to this touring exhibition have come from the University of Hertfordshire Art Collection with two seminal paintings by Ben Nicholson, as well as an intricate installation of objects by craft artist and University alumna, Katy Gillam-Hull.

^{Ben Nicholson, March 1950 (Still Life Castagnola), 1950 oil on canvas. Courtesy of University of Hertfordshire Art Collection}

Artists on display

Vanessa Bell, Margaret Firth, Roger Fry, Juan Gris, Anthea Hamilton, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens, Frances Hodgkins, Rene Matić, Emily Murray Patterson, Ben Nicholson, Willem Ormea, Lucie Rie, Eva Rothschild, Veronica Ryan, Walter Richard Sickert, Geer Van Velde, Nicolaes van Verendael, Caroline Walker and many more….

The exhibition is extended through a range of resources and related events. For more information, please visit www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk and @stalbansmuseums

Still Lives runs from 23 Oct 2026 to 11 Apr 2027 at the St Albans Museum + Gallery. Open daily 10:00–16:00. FREE ENTRY.

^{Thumbnail image credit: Emily Murray Paterson, Tulips, oil on canvas, n.d.}