EVELYN DE MORGAN SHOW AT GUILDHALL ART GALLERY

Image: Ariadne in Naxos oil on canvas, Evelyn De Morgan, 1877. © Trustees of the De Morgan Foundation

Two newly restored artworks by an acclaimed Victorian artist are among those featured in a major exhibition: `Evelyn De Morgan: The Modern Painter in Victorian London’. Evelyn De Morgan’s richly coloured canvases, depicting beautifully draped figures laden with messages of feminism, spirituality, and the rejection of war and material wealth, won her many high-profile admirers, including Oscar Wilde and the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt.

The display offers insights into her artistic process and technique, before delving into her developing career and focusing on her engagement with cultural events in London, such as attending theatrical performances, and sermons.

Studies that she made at the Slade School of Art are displayed alongside paintings from exhibitions at Grosvenor Gallery, New Gallery, and Fine Art Society. There is also a series of paintings made in response to the horrors of the First World War, which De Morgan exhibited in 1916 to raise money for the Red Cross.

Student conservators from the Courtauld Institute of Art were invited to restore two paintings, which are shown for the first time to the public. A section on her enduring legacy outlines the history of the De Morgan Foundation and includes ceramics by William De Morgan, Evelyn’s husband.

The exhibition hosted by the City of London Corporation’s gallery and the De Morgan Foundation continues until 4 January 2026 with a ‘pay what you can’ admission charge. For more information, visit the website.