Visual Arts
Somerset House Trust presents a site-wide programme of visual arts, bringing the building and public spaces alive with exhibitions, installations, performances and events. As well as developing and commissioning our own strand of artistic and cultural output, we also collaborate with world-class institutions to bring important work to London. We aim to inspire and delight with distinctive, bold and imaginative work from around the world.
As well as playing host to The Courtauld Gallery and its acclaimed collections, a major new strand of our activities is our own programme of temporary exhibitions in the Embankment Galleries which focus on contemporary fashion, architecture, photography and design. Our exhibitions have included SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution, which brought world renowned fashion photographer Nick Knight’s work to the gallery, Maison Martin Margiela ‘20’ The Exhibition, which celebrated 20 years of one of fashion’s most avant-garde designers, and Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and The Line of Beauty, an exhibition of 50 original drawings from the iconic master of illustration. From 2010 we have also hosted Pick Me Up, the UK’s first contemporary graphic arts fair.
A programme of free public displays runs alongside our major exhibitions in the Terrace and Courtyard Rooms, and further exhibitions will take place in the new East Wing Galleries which opened in Novemeber 2011.
