Seeing the Unseen: Reality and Imagination in the Art of Stanley Spencer

  • Event Icon
    Start dateNovember 2024 through March 2025
  • Event Icon
    Start Time11am
    End Time4.30pm
  • Event Icon
    LocationStanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham, SL6 9SJ
  • Event Icon
    PriceAdults £7, Concessions £3.50

“Everything has a sort of double meaning for me, there’s the ordinary everyday meaning of things, and the imaginary meaning about it all, and I wanted to bring these things together.” Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959).

Stanley Spencer’s art is autobiographical, personal and strangely mysterious, and sometimes beyond comprehension of an unseeing eye. He was one of the most original artists of his era, belonging to no major art movement. His work was primarily influenced by his personal reality and extraordinary imagination.

His love for Cookham and his happy childhood memories of family and local life were the bedrock of his art, and he returned many times from his travels and travails to the village of his birth. His originality flows from his ability not only to see with his eyes but with his soul. Each work is layered, a mixture of acutely observed reality, memory, fantasy and spirituality. Spencer’s artistic impulse drove his very being, his genius lying in his ability to see beyond visual reality.

This is a wonderful example of the new exhibition at the Stanley Spencer Gallery, in Cookham, which has a fine collection of the artist’s work. Born in the village in 1891, Spencer is synonymous with the Thames-side village from which he took much inspiration.

Additional information

Seeing the Unseen runs from 7 November 2024 through 30 March 2025.

Exhibition opening times:

  • Summer opening hours (from 28th March): Daily from 10:30am – 4:30pm. Last entry: 4pm
  • Winter opening hours: Thurs – Sun only: 11am – 4:30pm Last entry: 4pm

Entry:

  • Adults £7.00
  • Age 18 to 25 years £3.50
  • Art Fund £3.50
  • Museum Assoc. £3.50
  • Advantage Cards £3.50
  • Free Entry for: Friends of the Gallery, Carers, Accompanied Children (under 18)
Stanley Spencer Gallery
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