The most ambitious exhibition dedicated to Stanley Spencer in a decade will open at Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury this autumn, before transferring to the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham from April 2026. The partnership between the two museums will feature over 20 works from the Stanley Spencer Gallery presented alongside major loans from Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries, and other public lenders, as well as rarely seen works from private collections. The exhibition will travel to the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham, Berkshire, where it will be on display from 4 April to 1 November 2026. This leg of the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore Spencer’s deep emotional and artistic ties to Suffolk from the heart of his beloved Cookham. It reveals how Suffolk’s coastal landscape and Spencer’s complex relationships, particularly with Hilda Carline and Patricia Preece, shaped some of his most poignant and visionary paintings. Visitors will encounter rarely seen portraits, intimate drawings, and evocative scenes such as Southwold (1937), which reflect both joy and introspection.

The exhibition will also highlight Spencer’s imaginative project, ‘The Church House’, offering insight into how memory, love and place were interwoven in his spiritual and artistic vision.