Announcing our 2026/27 Exhibition Programme!

Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art

30 April 2026 until 27 September 2026

Women have made huge impacts on the development of British art. However, they have often been underrepresented, overlooked and undervalued in their fields.

Making Her Mark celebrates notable female artists from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, with extraordinary works by Elizabeth Forbes, Laura Knight, Dod Procter, Caroline Walker, Tracey Emin and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, amongst many more.

This unique collaboration between Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum and Kirkcaldy Galleries, part of cultural charity OnFife, brings together over 50 works by women artists from their respective collections.

This major exhibition is part of Going Places, an Art Fund programme made possible with major support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Julia Rausing Trust.

The Art of the Newlyn School: Paintings from the Bowerman Collection

7 October 2026 until 9 January 2027

Founded from the private collection of David Bowerman MBE, the Bowerman Charitable Trust now holds a major collection of Newlyn School paintings, second in importance and scope only to Penlee house. Forty of these paintings have been gathered together to form a national touring exhibition that is being launched at Penlee this October, before touring to Nottingham, Dedham, Birkenhead, Worcester, and Newcastle. From much-loved favourites such as Walter Langley’s large oil painting Breadwinners to rarely seen treats such as Harold Harvey’s Titbits, all shown alongside key works from our own collection, the exhibition offers a treat for all Newlyn School fans.

Accompanying the exhibition, there will be a new book, ‘The Art of the Newlyn School: Paintings of Cornish Life and Light’ by Alison Bevan. Featuring over 150 illustrations from Penlee house and the Bowerman Collection, the book will be available from our shop.

Ground floor galleries. A selection of Newlyn School paintings on view upstairs in Gallery 5.

The Geoffrey and Carol Holland Trust: Selected Works

1 February 2027 until 10 April 2027

In 1988, the Hollands moved to Little Parc Owles, a house in Carbis Bay where many artists have lived, worked, met and talked. As their Cornish art collection grew, so did their interest in arts education, setting up the Little Parc Owles Trust. Now The Geoffrey and Carol Holland Trust, this is the first exhibition of artworks from the collection. Includes work by John Anthony Park, Peter Lanyon, Bryan Wynter, Rose Hilton and Daphne McClure.

Gallery 1.

Image: Rachel Nicholson. View with House and Stone Wall, 1986. Oil on board. The Geoffrey and Carol Holland Trust. © The Artist’s Estate.

100 Years of the St Ives Society of Artists

1 February 2027 until 10 April 2027

Founded on 26 January 1927, the St Ives Society of Artists was the first arts organisation in the town to provide permanent exhibition space for its members. It welcomed eminent artists – both Cornish and former Cornish residents; many of them Royal Academicians. 

The Society’s first home was in the Porthmeor Studios, Back Road West. In 1945, the Society moved across the road into the empty Mariner’s Church; originally built in 1905 for the fishing community. It remains at this venue to this day.

To celebrate the Society’s centenary, this exhibition will feature work by current members alongside paintings by past members held in Penlee’s collections.

Galleries 2,3,4. A selection of Newlyn School paintings on view upstairs in Gallery 5.

Image: Eric Ward. St Ives Society from Fish Street, 2020. Oil on board. Private Collection. © The Artist.