The Wallace Collection Ticket Portal

Our current exhibition Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur is an inspiration for us to take a closer look at contemporary art. Join Dr Ben Street to discover ways to appreciate, enjoy and understand art of the last 65 years, by learning useful techniques for making meaningful connections.

We’ll take a broad sweep of works created in a vast array of media, and in a variety of geographical locations. During our exploration, we’ll discuss the different techniques at play, the methods of display used by artists, and some of the ideas and concepts that have driven contemporary artists.

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.  

Join us for an exclusive supporters-only event, taking place after hours at the Wallace Collection. After an opportunity to view our landmark exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, the celebrated artist himself will be leading our Annual Supporters talk.

The talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

Join us at the museum: The exhibition will be open from 17.30, for ticket holders only, to have a private look before the beginning of the talk at 18.30. Please note, a valid Members’ Card will be needed to attend this event.

Please note - the Wallace Collection will close at 17.00 before ticket holders are re-admitted. 

With live captions by Stagetext.

Journey to 18th-century Venice through a captivating selection of paintings created by the foremost Venetian view painters of the time: Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. Join us for an engaging discussion that will not only reveal why Venice was such a popular destination for Grand Tourists, but will illuminate the historical significance of the Wallace Collection’s paintings and invite us to reflect on Venice's enduring allure.

About the speakers: Dr Lelia Packer was Curator of Paintings at the Wallace Collection between 2017 and 2024. During her time here, she curated the Collection's first major international exhibition, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait. She also led the Collection's multi-year conservation and research project around its Venetian view paintings, culminating in her recent book, co-authored with Charles Beddington, Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection (Scala 2025). Before joining the Wallace Collection, Lelia held positions at prestigious institutions such as the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Take part at the museum: No ticket required, drop in on the day. Join us in the Theatre for this special talk.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Book a free ticket online to receive a Zoom link. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only.   

Polish your halo, dust off your angel wings and prepare to party with Saint Sebastian, Saint Joan and more in the heavenly setting of the Wallace Collection.

Our legendary Queer knees-up is back with a sparkle, devotedly curated by artist Sadie Lee. Join us for Queer-themed performances, music and art at the most divine museum in town.

Event supported by The Portman Estate. 

Take part at the Museum: Join us at the museum for this special event between 18.30-21.30 BST, with bar and music continuing until 23.00. Includes access to the Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur  exhibition until 20.30.

Join us for an exploration of the extraordinary life and work of Madge Gill (1882–1961), one of Britain’s most enigmatic artists. Featured in our current exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur – and a key source of inspiration to Perry – Gill’s work invites us to question how we define creativity and artistic legitimacy.

Bringing together curators, art critics and writers Sophie Dutton, Hettie Judah, Lisa Slominski and Jennifer Higgie to reflect on Gill’s life and prolific output – created under the influence of a spirit guide she called ‘Myrninerest’ – we’ll consider her place within art history and the wider context of ‘outsider’ art.

About the speakers:

Sophie Dutton is a curator, writer, designer and researcher. She is the editor and designer of Madge Gill by Myrninerest, a monograph published by Rough Trade Books in 2019, with a second edition released this year. Dutton has curated exhibitions of Gill's work, including Myrninerest at The William Morris Gallery (2019), Nature in Mind, featuring reproductions of Gill's art along The Line art trail in east London (2021) and The Clouds Will Burst the Sun Will Shine Again at the Midlands Art Centre (2023).

Jennifer Higgie is a writer and art critic. She was previously the editor of Frieze magazine and is the author of several books including The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits (2021) and The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World (2023). Higgie also hosts the National Gallery of Australia's podcast Artist's Artists and curated the 2023 exhibition Thin Skin at the Monash University Museum of Art in Melbourne.

Hettie Judah is a writer and curator. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian, Frieze, The Times Literary Supplement, and Apollo magazine. Her recent shows include the 2024/25 Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, and Gate of Horns: Myths of Resistance, Symbols of Defiance at Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate. As a public speaker and broadcaster, she can be heard on programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. Her recent publications include How Not To Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) (Lund Humphries, 2022), Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones (John Murray, London, 2022) and Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood (Thames & Hudson, 2024). Her forthcoming book How to Enter the Art World After… will be published in 2026.

Lisa Slominski is an American curator, writer and researcher. She is currently undertaking a PhD at Kingston University, London, examining the power dynamics of agency within artworld strategies that shape how the identities of marginalised artists are reinforced or resisted. Slominski is the author of Nonconformers: A New History of Self-Taught Artists (Yale University Press, 2022) and co-founder of ‘Art et al.’, an inclusive curatorial platform focusing on collaborations between arts professionals with and without disabilities.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special talk, followed by drinks and exhibition visit.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Online ticketholders will be emailed a link to join 24 hours in advance. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks.

Image: Madge Gill, Untitled, date unknown, courtesy of London Borough of Newham

‘Damned expensive taste though’: The Afterlife of George IV’s Collections and Building Projects, from William IV to Elizabeth II'

King George IV died on 16 June 1830 in his new bedroom at Windsor Castle. Increasingly dropsical and reclusive towards the end of his life, he had only just moved into his new apartments in the Castle with his rapacious mistress, Lady Conyngham, and a small group of devoted attendants. George bequeathed a vast array of furniture and works of art to his successors, assembled during a lifetime of omnivorous collecting, as well as unfinished building projects in Windsor and London.

Join Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection, as he traces the afterlife of George IV’s myriad collections and building projects, and reveals how his sometimes-reluctant heirs coped with his prodigious legacy.

About the Speaker: Tim Knox was appointed Director of the Royal Collection by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. Prior to that he was Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, where he made a number of important acquisitions and planned the Museum's masterplan. He was Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London between 2005 and 2013, where he restored Sir John Soane’s glittering architectural treasury to its appearance in 1837, just as its founder wished, and converted the neighbouring houses to provide facilities for the museum. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Co-Patron of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust, which he helped found.

Dame Rosalind Savill Memorial Lecture

Dame Rosalind Savill was Director of the Wallace Collection from 1992 to 2011. With great energy and tenacity, she brought vital change to the museum, transforming it from an undervisited institution into a cultural landmark.

In memory of Dame Rosalind's profound contribution to the study of French decorative arts – and in the spirit of her passion for sharing her knowledge with the public – the annual Dame Rosalind Savill Memorial Lecture enables a leading scholar to share new insights into the world of 18th-century French arts and culture and the history of collecting.

This lecture is made possible thanks to Adrian Sassoon, a donation in memory of Cynthia Postan and the support of an anonymous donor.

Uncover the remarkable history of arms and armour through one of the finest collections in the world. Over the course of an immersive week, we’ll introduce you to a wide range of rare and important examples, from medieval Europe to 19th-century Asia. Through lively talks and hands-on demonstrations delivered by our leading experts and craftspeople, you’ll learn how arms and armour functioned, how they were produced, and the ways in which they developed.

Each morning of the summer school will offer in-depth, theatre-based presentations while in the afternoon, spotlight talks will delve into a particular aspect of arms and armour history. We’ll complete each day with a combination of gallery tours, object handling and demonstrations, offering you opportunities to get up close to real and replica pieces.

Over five days, you’ll gain a broad knowledge of the subject, enabling you to recognise and understand the major characteristics and material developments of European and Asian arms and armour, as well as becoming familiar with the museum’s outstanding collections.

Read the full programme here.

Take part at the museum: The summer school will be taught in the Wallace Collection Theatre and in galleries throughout the museum. Please meet each day in the Theatre, on the Lower Ground Floor.

Tickets are for all five dates. Morning tea and coffee will be provided; participants should make their own arrangements for lunch.

Join us for an evening exploring art’s powerful role in healing, expression and care. Taking inspiration from themes seen in our exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, we’ll delve into how creative practice can support emotional resilience and social connection.

Bringing together inclusive arts champion CEO and artistic director Sheryll Catto, psychiatrist and curator Dr David O’Flynn and artist Celia Pym, discussion will centre on the work of ‘outsider’ artists such as Madge Gill, examining how art made outside of the traditional systems offers profound insights into personal and collective wellbeing. Together, the speakers will consider how making, mending and expression intersect in both therapeutic and artistic contexts.

About the speakers: Sheryll Catto is Artistic Director and CEO of ActionSpace, a pioneering visual arts organisation supporting learning-disabled artists. With a background in arts management, she has championed inclusive arts practices through her work for ActionSpace for almost two decades. ActionSpace creates platforms for underrepresented voices in the contemporary art world by collaborating with leading cultural institutions to ensure accessible opportunities for learning-disabled artists, and promotes the therapeutic value of artistic expression. Sheryll regularly speaks on inclusion, creativity and the transformative power of art.

Dr David O’Flynn is a consultant psychiatrist and until stepping back from clinical practice in 2022, was at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust working with people living with enduring and life changing psychosis. He is Curator – having been Chair from 2004 to 2024 – of Adamson Collection Trust. He was also Chair of Bethlem Gallery from 2014 to 2022. He has long explored the intersection between mental health and the visual arts, advocating for the recognition of art created by people compelled to be in the mental health system, within clinical and cultural contexts. David has curated exhibitions and written extensively on historical and contemporary outsider art.

Celia Pym is a textile artist exploring themes of care and repair through darning. With a background in fine art and nursing, her work highlights the emotional depth in mending. Celia uses textile processes to reflect on grief, resilience and the quiet therapeutic nature of making and healing. Her work has been exhibited internationally in venues such as the Wellcome Collection, the V&A Dundee and the Textilmuseum in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 2017, Pym was shortlisted for both the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize and the inaugural Loewe Craft Prize.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special event, followed by drinks, book signing and exhibition visit until 20.45.

Watch online: This discussion will also be broadcast live from the museum. Online ticketholders will be emailed a link to join 24 hours in advance. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks.

Photo: Nnena Kalu, Artist portrait. Courtesy of the Artist and ActionSpace

With live captions by Stagetext.

The Wallace Collection houses a number of works by the French painter, Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805). During his lifetime, he enjoyed critical acclaim, immense popularity and commercial success. Subsequently, however, his reputation declined, reaching its nadir during the first half of the 20th century. 

To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, Dr Barker will explore why Greuze has been both loved and loathed, and will ask if it might now be possible to take him seriously as an artist once again.

About the speaker: Dr Emma Barker is Senior Lecturer in Art History at the Open University. She is the author of Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment (Cambridge University Press, 2005). She has also published many articles on the work of Greuze and other aspects of 18th-century French art.

Take part at the museum: No ticket required, drop in on the day. Join us in the Theatre for this special talk.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Book a free ticket online to receive a Zoom link. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only.   

Join expert, Mark Hale, to trace the fascinating origins of maille and its widespread use across various cultures and time periods. In this special demonstration and tour, you will learn how this versatile armour – commonly but erroneously known as ‘chain mail’ - evolved in design, function, and construction over the centuries.

Mark's practical demonstration and object handling session will offer you the unique opportunity to take a close look at the manufacturing process, and to discover how modern craftspeople have learned to create true-to-life reconstructions of this iconic form of armour, so often associated with the medieval age.

About the speaker: Mark Hale’s interest in maille led him to form his company, Cap-à-pie which uses mass-produced rings to create items for the re-enactment market. Mark regularly liaises with curators and conservators to develop historically accurate rings, and makes contributions to museum displays as well as the film industry.

Take part at the museum: This demonstration and tour will start in the Meeting Room, Lower Ground Floor, and move on to galleries throughout the museum.

Step into the world of the unconventional with Hail the New Puritans (1993) – a raw, genre-defying film by Charles Atlas featuring the radical choreography of Michael Clark. Presented by OffBeat as part of our Outsider Film Season, this cult classic challenges traditional narratives through its punk-infused aesthetic, queer perspectives and subversive take on British dance culture, embracing the outsider’s voice in contemporary art.

Echoing themes seen in Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, the film celebrates creators who work outside the mainstream, embracing self-expression, identity politics and personal mythology. The film elevates the voices of those on the margins, questioning who gets to be called an ‘artist’ in the first place.

About the host: OffBeat is the UK's only dedicated film club celebrating the folk and working culture of the British Isles. Set up in 2022, OffBeat is run by filmmaker Rita Maria Conry and artist and lecturer Mike Hankin, regularly hosting screenings and events showing this country at its weirdest and most wonderful.

About Outsider Film Season: Join us for a season of films inspired by our exhibition Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, celebrating self-expression, unconventional creativity and the art that exists beyond the expected.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special event, followed by an evening view of Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur until 20.45.

Join filmmaker Martin Wallace as he traces the origins of ‘Outsider Art’ and its precursor, ‘Art Brut’. Wallace will focus on how these ideas have taken shape around the world in the form of visionary environments.

In 1998, Wallace wrote and directed the Channel 4 series, Journeys Into The Outside with Jarvis Cocker, which explored outsider environments throughout France, the USA, and from Mexico to India. Using clips from Journeys, as well as material from his new film about Wirral-based outsider, the late Ron Gittins, Wallace will explore the complicated and contested label of ‘outsider’ art.

With plenty of opportunity for audience interactivity, Wallace will bring to life the commonalities and differences among the sites he has examined around the globe. In particular, he will focus on Ron’s Place, and the unique, creative and transformative opportunities sites like these provide.

About the host: Martin Wallace is an International Emmy and Royal Television Society award-winner, and BAFTA nominee. He is currently producing a feature-length documentary about the late Ron Gittins, a Wirral-based artist who spent 33 years converting his rented flat into a fantastical, immersive homage to his passion for the ancient and classical worlds.

About Outsider Film Season: Join us for a season of films inspired by our exhibition Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, celebrating self-expression, unconventional creativity and the art that exists beyond the expected.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special event, followed by an evening view of Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur until 20.45.

Join us for a special film night hosted by filmmaker Huw Wahl and curator Holly Grange, showcasing their thought-provoking series, Speaking Back. This compelling programme explores how so-called ‘outsider artists’ – those often positioned at the margins of the art world – challenge and converse with the institutions that collect and interpret their work. Showing newly released films documenting Valerie Potter and Marie Rose-Lortet, the event will reflect on the lives and practices of artists such as Madge Gill and Aloïse Corbaz – featured in our exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur – whose deeply personal, visionary work has often been misunderstood or underappreciated.

Wahl and Grange will be joined via Zoom by artist Valerie Potter, and self-taught, disabled and overlooked artists champion Jennifer Lauren. They will discuss power, representation and the radical potential of outsider art. This event invites audiences to reconsider how these artists ‘speak back’ through their work.

The featured artists are part of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection, the largest public collection of its kind in the UK, which has played a vital role in preserving and championing their work. Speaking Back is a series of four films about artists from the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection. Commissioned by the Whitworth Art Gallery.

About the speakers: Huw Wahl is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has been screened internationally at festivals such as CPH:DOX and Open City Docs, in venues including Centre Pompidou Metz, Royal Museums Greenwich, and aboard a Thames sailing barge. His films have received international awards, featured in Sight and Sound, The Guardian, and The Wire, and been supported by Arts Council England, The Henry Moore Foundation, and the Royal Photographic Society. He has published widely, curated film programmes, taught internationally, and worked as an AHRC-funded researcher. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. His latest film, Wind, Tide & Oar, is on UK cinema release with Tull Stories.

Holly Grange is a curator and writer based in Leeds, UK. She served as Exhibition Curator at Leeds Art Gallery for four and a half years, where she curated major exhibitions and the public programme.

Prior to her role at Leeds Art Gallery, Holly was the curator of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection at the Whitworth, Manchester, where she worked to reframe narratives around self-taught and marginalised artists. She has also worked in curatorial roles at S1 Artspace in Sheffield, the Hepworth Wakefield, and Tate St Ives. 

About Outsider Film Season: Join us for a season of films inspired by our exhibition Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, celebrating self-expression, unconventional creativity and the art that exists beyond the expected.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special event, followed by an evening view of Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur until 20.45.

Journey through the visual culture and society of a selection of Italian cities by focussing on a range of artworks seen in the Wallace Collection and beyond. Looking at Florence, Rome and Urbino, our investigation will reveal the impact of each city’s unique artistic and architectural development, centred around the 15th to 17th centuries.

In republican Florence, we’ll learn how art offered a way for clients, led by the Medici family, to express cultural superiority. In Rome we’ll see how successive Popes used commissions to promote themselves and their family name – and in the city-state of Urbino, we’ll discover how art and architecture were powerful propaganda tools.

Read the full course description here. 

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.  

As London Fashion Week comes to the capital this September, what better time to investigate the changing fashions that can be discovered in the Wallace Collection?

Join dress historian Jacqui Ansell as she leads us through a range of styles, accessories and functions, from the Renaissance to the Regency era. We’ll focus on key artworks by artists including Crivelli, Rembrandt, Reynolds and Vigée Le Brun to help us decode dress. Not only will you learn about changing fashion trends, you’ll understand how dress can reveal fascinating insights into history.

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.  

Let your creativity flow and learn new skills in drawing, printmaking and ceramics, inspired by our current exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur.

Guided by our artists and with ongoing access to the exhibition, over four days you’ll explore how art of the past can be playfully reimagined in a range of media. Exploring Grayson Perry’s innovative techniques and unique storytelling, you’ll delve into different themes to spark your imagination and help you express your own stories through art.

By the end of the summer school, you’ll have created a diverse portfolio of vibrant drawings, prints and ceramic pieces, and will have had many opportunities for individual and group tuition on artistic processes and materials.

Read the full course description here.

Previous Skills, Knowledge or Experience: None required. Our summer school is suitable for beginners as well as those looking to develop their artistic practice.

Equipment and Materials:Please wear clothes suitable for a messy workshop. All materials and equipment are provided.

Joining Information and Format: The summer school will take place in the Learning Studio, Lower Ground Floor and in display galleries throughout the museum. We recommend participants bring a packed lunch. When walking through the museum, food and drink must be packed away in a bag and must only be consumed in the Studio.

Learn how Flemish painting radically reinvented itself during the 15th to 17th centuries. Discover how the astonishing realism of the early Netherlandish painters underwent a ‘renaissance’ as artists responded to new classical ideals sweeping in from Italy.

See how Flemish artists sought to assimilate the achievements of the great Italian masters, culminating in the work of Rubens. Drawing on important and fascinating Flemish paintings in the Wallace Collection by Memling, Pourbus and Rubens, Dr Williams will reveal a period of extraordinary cultural innovation.

About the speaker: Dr Richard Williams completed his doctorate at the Courtauld Institute and began his career as a specialist in Northern Renaissance Art at Birkbeck College, University of London. Following this, he joined the Royal Collection where he heads the department that oversees education and interpretation at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. He has published widely on the art of Northern Europe and has been a lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, the National Gallery and many other institutions.

Take part at the museum: This course will take place in the Theatre, Lower Ground Floor. Participants taking part at the museum are encouraged to visit the galleries in their own time afterwards.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Online ticketholders will be emailed a link to join 24 hours in advance. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only.

Why is Titian – Tiziano Vecellio – still celebrated as one of the greatest ever Western European artists? Join Clare Ford-Wille to explore how Titian's inventive compositions, experimentation with style and use of superlative painting techniques ensure that his paintings continue to inspire and amaze today.

We’ll engage with a selection of the Renaissance artist’s most outstanding religious and mythological works, as well as his enigmatic portraiture. You’ll learn about the times in which Titian was working, the patrons for whom he painted and why his artistic legacy is so significant. Our exploration will include Titian’s monumental work, Perseus and Andromeda, which is now enjoyed in the Wallace Collection. 

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.