Art UK

Art UK Connecting you to art 🖼️
Art UK is an art education charity and digital space that connects everyone with the UK's public art collection.

Art UK is a cultural education charity. We enable global audiences to learn about the UK’s national art collection. Our website is the showcase for art in every UK public collection and is a collaboration between over 3,200 British institutions. The art you see on Art UK is for everyone – for enjoyment, learning and research. These artworks are in museums, universities, town halls, hospitals and o

ther civic buildings across the country. As 80% of this art is not on public view, Art UK allows you to see art that you would not normally be able to visit. Art UK is free for all to enjoy. It is through the generosity of a wide range of public and private funders that we are able to make this possible.

Happy birthday George Stubbs 🎂🐎 'Whistlejacket' is probably the most famous horse in British art. The Arabian chestnut s...
25/08/2026

Happy birthday George Stubbs 🎂

🐎 'Whistlejacket' is probably the most famous horse in British art. The Arabian chestnut stallion won a major race at York in 1759 before retiring, his owner, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, asked Stubbs to paint him.

Despite suggestions that a rider was originally planned, Whistlejacket was always meant to be unmounted.

Stubbs left out everything we might expect – no rider, no saddle, no landscape. Against a plain gold ground, the horse appears free from human control.

'Whistlejacket' by George Stubbs (1724–1806) 📷 National Gallery

Looking for exhibitions to visit this weekend?Our What’s on feed makes it easy to find exhibitions, displays, talks, tou...
22/08/2026

Looking for exhibitions to visit this weekend?

Our What’s on feed makes it easy to find exhibitions, displays, talks, tours, and workshops across the UK 👉 https://artuk.org/visit/whats-on

‘The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil’ by Claude Monet (1840–1926) 📷 The National Gallery

New to Art UK: GoldenThread Gallery ✨Artworks by some of Northern Ireland’s most important contemporary artists are now ...
21/08/2026

New to Art UK: GoldenThread Gallery ✨

Artworks by some of Northern Ireland’s most important contemporary artists are now available to explore on Art UK 👉 https://artuk.org/visit/venues/golden-thread-gallery-7933

Works from the collection by artists including Jack Pakenham, Sharon Kelly, Megan Doherty, Clement McAleer, and Lisa Byrne join the over one million artworks waiting to be discovered on our website!

1) 'The Changeling Series (15 Works)' by Megan Doherty (active since 2016) © the artist.

2) 'The Idealist's Progress' by Jack Pakenham (b.1938) © the artist.

3) 'To Think About Things Together that Appear to be Separate' by John Rainey (b.1985) © the artist.

📷 Golden Thread Gallery

Can you date these photographs? 📷The vivid colours and extraordinary detail might make you think they are contemporary, ...
19/08/2026

Can you date these photographs? 📷

The vivid colours and extraordinary detail might make you think they are contemporary, or even an old photograph colourised with AI.

In fact, they are hand-coloured albumen prints dating from the late 19th-century, and just one example of the extraordinary variety of art you can discover on Art UK, including photography.

These photos are part of a collection by Austrian photographer Raimund von Stillfried, recently added to Art UK by Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum. Stillfried became one of the leading photographers of Japan in the 1870s.

Discover photography on Art UK 👉https://artuk.org/discover/art-terms/photography

1) 'Man with a Back Tattoo Showing a Samurai'

2) 'Mother and Child'

3) 'Portrait of an Old Man, a Tea Buyer'

4) 'Young Woman Having Her Hair Dressed with Her Face Visible in a Mirror'

By Raimund von Stillfried (1839–1911), from the Album 'Views and Costumes of China and Japan' (Vol. 1) 📷 Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum

The National Gallery is home to some of the world’s most famous paintings but women artists make up fewer than half a pe...
18/08/2026

The National Gallery is home to some of the world’s most famous paintings but women artists make up fewer than half a per cent of the Gallery’s permanent collection of around 2,300 paintings.

In recent years, the Gallery has been adding more works by women artists, helping to bring their stories and achievements into greater focus.

Read about the eleven women artists of The National Gallery 👉 https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-eleven-women-artists-of-the-national-gallery

1) 'Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes' by Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807)

2) 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria' by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654 or after)

3) 'Flowers in a Vase' by Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750)

4) 'Self Portrait in a Straw Hat' by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842)

📷 The National Gallery, London

It has to be Gwen John's 'Young Woman Holding a Black Cat' for Black Cat Appreciation Day 😻🖤Gwen John acquired her first...
17/08/2026

It has to be Gwen John's 'Young Woman Holding a Black Cat' for Black Cat Appreciation Day 😻🖤

Gwen John acquired her first cat in 1904, named Edgar Quinet after the street in which she was living.

✍️ She often captured her adored cats in spontaneous drawings. Gwen John wrote about one of her cats: ‘she is very important, perhaps the most important thing but that ought not to be, n’est pas?’

Gwen John painted several versions of this work. The sitter was a neighbour of hers in Meaudon, France and her most frequently used model.

'Young Woman Holding a Black Cat' by Gwen John (1876–1939) 📷 Tate

With the recent death of Kevin Sinnott, Wales has lost one of its most popular artists. Born in 1947 at Sarn, Bridgend, ...
15/08/2026

With the recent death of Kevin Sinnott, Wales has lost one of its most popular artists. Born in 1947 at Sarn, Bridgend, Kevin trained at the Royal College of Art and returned to Wales in 1993.

His paintings then reflected life in the South Wales Valleys, including this artwork, the iconic ‘Running Away with the Hairdresser’.

A planned retrospective exhibition of his work will be held at Celf Gallery/, Roath, Cardiff from 5th September – 11th October 2026 👉 https://celfgallery.com/exhibitions/39-kevin-sinnott-1947-2026/

Read more about the artist in this story 👉 https://artuk.org/discover/stories/kevin-sinnott-painting-the-thrill-of-existence/

'Running Away with the Hairdresser' by Kevin Sinnott (1947–2026) © the artist's estate. 📷 By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

14/08/2026

Come with us to visit Donald Locke Resistant Forms at Camden Art Centre 🖼️

The powerful exhibition is London’s first comprehensive survey of Guyanese-British ceramicist, painter and sculptor Donald Locke, it shows how much he experimented with different materials.

Find out more about this exhibition and hundreds of others on Bloomberg Connects the free arts and culture platform with access to more than 1,500 museums, galleries and cultural spaces worldwide.

📍 Camden Art Centre
📅 Visit until the 30th August 2026

Find more exhibitions to visit with Art UK’s new What’s on feed 👉 https://artuk.org/visit/whats-on

Total eclipse in some art 🌑☀️How have artists depicted the astronomical phenomena known as eclipses? Whether lunar or so...
12/08/2026

Total eclipse in some art 🌑☀️

How have artists depicted the astronomical phenomena known as eclipses? Whether lunar or solar, symbolic, scientific or surreal, here are a few examples 👉 https://artuk.org/discover/curations/total-eclipse-in-some-art

1) 'Colour lithograph of solar eclipse catalogue title' by Etienne Leopold Trouvelot (1827–1895) 📷 Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library

2) 'Eclipse of the Sun' by Elisabeth Vellacott (1905–2002) © the artist's estate. 📷 Derby Museums

3) 'Eclipse Blue' by Matthew Chambers (b.1975) © the artist. 📷 National Museums Scotland

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