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Visit Penlee House & Museum

Penlee House is a Gallery, Museum, Cafe and Shop. Situated within Penlee Park, a space to reflect and great for family visits.

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A space for exhibitions & events

Alongside our Exhibition programme we run a variety of community events and workshops. The Newlyn School and Social history galleries change often. Find out what’s on.

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A space to learn

Penlee House is committed to lifelong learning. We run workshops for all age groups and offer a school workshop programme.

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A space for all

Built in 1865, as the home of the Branwell family. Penlee House is home to many paintings by members of the Newlyn School. It is also home to the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society collection.

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You can search and browse our collections online. We also have a section dedicated to the Newlyn School.

Jewels In The Crown: Celebrating 25 years of Collecting at Penlee House

22 January 2022 until 14 May 2022

The next exhibition at Penlee House will be a celebration of its fascinating and varied collection. It is twenty-five years since major refurbishment of the Gallery took place and in that time the collection has expanded significantly.

To celebrate this quarter-century milestone, the Penlee House team has taken a fresh look through the stores to draw out some of the most significant acquisitions in the Gallery’s history, with a focus on art and artefacts collected since 1997. Showcasing some of the earliest works to form the collection as well as more recent additions, the exhibition will feature popular paintings such as Eyes and No Eyes by Frank Bramley and The Pied Piper by Elizabeth Forbes, alongside lesser-known acquisitions, such as small Cryséde purse.

Although Penlee House is internationally famous for its collection of Newlyn School paintings, there have been some significant acquisitions of social history objects, archaeological artefacts and photography in recent years.The Gibson photographic collection, purchased in 2016 is one such example.

All of these acquisitions have been generously funded by organisations such as the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Art Fund,The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Friends of Penlee House as well as by private donations.

Penlee House Director Katie Herbert said “It has been really enjoyable to revisit the collection and to be able to celebrate the generosity of public funders, private donors and the Friends of Penlee House, who have enabled us to expand our collection widely.As we are proudly owned and operated by Penzance Council, the art and artefacts in the collection belong to the public and we hope that as many people as possible will come to the exhibition to enjoy them”.

The exhibition will open on 22 January and run until 14 May 2022.

Have you seen?


Visit Us

Penlee House is a beautiful art gallery and museum, set within sub-tropical gardens, with a great café.

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Exhibitions

Our vibrant exhibition programme celebrates the nationally important art and history of West Cornwall.

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Learning

From school visits to family activities, talks and walks, there are plenty of learning opportunities at Penlee House.

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Our Café

Enjoy a delicious lunch or coffee at the Orangery Café, with its sunny terrace overlooking the park.

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