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At more than 200 years old, Dulwich Picture Gallery is the oldest purpose-built public art gallery in the world. So, naturally, it takes the matter of bringing brilliant art to the public very seriously. As well as its permanent collection of pieces from the likes of Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and Gainsborough, DPG frequently puts on tours, lectures, after-hours events and kids activities to make art as accessible as it can be. And, in keeping with that mission, next month it’s unveiling a major transformation.
Dulwich Picture Gallery has extended across three acres of extra green space and now has a new permanent ArtPlay Pavilion, a families cafe and an even bigger free-to-access Sculpture Garden. The £5m project is the biggest redevelopment at the gallery in 20 years and is set to be revealed to the public in September. And there’s going to be a weekend of events to celebrate.
The new ArtPlay Pavilion has been designed by architects at Carmody Groarke and with help from artist duo Sarah Marsh and Stephanie Jefferies, will ‘immerse under eight-year-olds in a sensory-rich play space’. It’s design will allow kids to jump into paintings housed inside the gallery, running along Canaletto’s Venetian bridges and swinging among Nicolas Poussin’s romantic clouds.
Elsewhere in the gallery’s makeover, the Lovington Sculpture Meadow is the new wing of the beloved sculpture garden. It takes up a previously under-utilised field at the south end of the green space and features an ‘art forest’ of roughly 130 new trees. Inside, visitors find interactive sculptures by the likes of Amy Stephens, Tai Shani, Nika Neelova and Harold Offeh.
To mark the opening, on Saturday September 6 and Sunday September 7, the gallery will be hosting ArtPlay Festival. Across the weekend there’ll be creative workshops with visual artist Harold Offeh, printmaking, storytelling sessions, glitter face painting, a silent disco and a classical music showcase from the City of London Sinfonia.
Jennifer Scott, the director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, said: ‘What a huge moment this is for Dulwich Picture Gallery as we transform our outdoor spaces. I am immensely grateful to all the supporters who have helped us to make our vision a reality, staying true to the Gallery’s founding idea that great art is made for sharing.’
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