LONDON.- Dulwich Picture Gallery today announces its 2027 programme of landmark exhibitions devoted to overlooked modernist pioneer Jacqueline Marval, celebrated contemporary artist David Shrigley and post-war visionary Anwar Jalal Shemza, alongside solo displays featuring new commissions by Sahara Longe and Caroline Walker.
EXHIBITIONS
Jacqueline Marval
2 Feb – 9 May 2027
A landmark exhibition celebrating the trailblazing French artist behind one of the earliest known female nude self-portraits in the history of painting
Dulwich Picture Gallery will present a landmark reassessment of Jacqueline Marval (1866–1932), in the first UK museum exhibition devoted to the pioneering French artist, believed to have created one of the earliest female nude self-portraits in the history of painting. Bringing together more than 40 paintings and selected lithographs, many of which have never before been exhibited, the exhibition will highlight Marval's vital contribution to early French Modernism and her innovative representations of women and the female form, which helped to define the Parisian avant-garde.
A key figure in the artistic circles of Belle poque Paris, Marval worked alongside contemporaries including Henri Matisse, Kees van Dongen and Pablo Picasso and was celebrated by prominent art dealers, yet her achievements have long remained under-recognised.
David Shrigley
25 May – 5 Sep 2027
The UK contemporary artist responds directly to the Old Masters of Dutch and Flemish painting, armed with his distinct sense of humour
A major exhibition by UK contemporary artist David Shrigley places the artist's distinctive artistic practice in dialogue with 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting. Bringing together works created nearly 400 years apart, the exhibition explores the comedic side of historic painting, presenting how artists through the ages have used humour to observe everyday life, human behaviour and social interaction.
A series of new works by Shrigley will respond directly to Netherlandish paintings by artists including Jan Steen, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers the Younger, Adriaen van Ostade, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Rembrandt van Rijn, revealing unexpected connections between contemporary and early modern art.
Anwar Jalal Shemza
21 Sep 2027 – 16 Jan 2028
The major retrospective A Circle, A Square, A Puzzle celebrates the pioneering British Pakistani post-war modernist
This will be the first major museum retrospective of British Pakistani artist Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985) in more than 30 years. Featuring over 80 works, the exhibition will celebrate one of the most original and influential voices of post-war modernism.
Shemza’s artistic style playfully fused geometric abstraction, calligraphic forms that gesture towards Urdu script, and references to place – from Lahore’s Mughal architecture to rural English landscapes. A Circle, A Square, A Puzzle will offer a fresh appraisal of a pioneering artist whose work transcended cultural boundaries and transformed diverse artistic traditions across art forms and geographies.
UNLOCKING PAINTINGS DISPLAYS
Sahara Longe
16 Feb – 13 June 2027
A solo display responding to Van Dyck interrogates experiences of loss, grief and heartbreak through contemporary painting
Responding to the Gallery’s historic Collection, Sahara Longe (b.1994) will present a new body of work in a solo one-room display. Inspired by Anthony van Dyck’s dreamlike portrait of Venetia, Lady Digby, on her Deathbed (1633), a tender snapshot of a beloved wife who hovers between waking and eternal sleep, Longe will create a series of new commissions exploring the experience of love and loss, grief and heartbreak, in their myriad forms.
Caroline Walker
12 Oct 2027 – 19 March 2028
New paintings document stories, encounters and behind-the-scenes moments at Dulwich Picture Gallery in a solo display
Renowned for her paintings that provide a window into the everyday lives of women, Caroline Walker (b. 1982) blurs the boundary between objectivity and lived experience, highlighting the often-overlooked jobs performed by women, whether in the workplace or at home.
Walker will create new works responding to the daily life of the Gallery, turning viewers’ attention away from the artworks and towards the people who give life to Dulwich Picture Gallery. The works are the outcome of a two-year journey, collecting observations throughout the Gallery’s spaces in a documentary approach to image-making.
