Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour

Lovely exhibition at Charleston in Lewes focusing on Vanessa Bell.

As you know I’m a big Bloomsbury fan so I was so excited to see this show, which I’d not managed to get to when it was is Milton Keynes, and it didn’t disappoint.

I loved that a lot of space was given to Bell’s earlier, groundbreaking work and that a big section looked at her design work.

Most of the show was arranged by place, reflecting the importance of place to Bell, plus giving it a rough chronological structure. I liked the mixing of portraits and landscapes as places as are as much about the people in them as the space itself.

I found lots of old friends but there was also a great selection of works from private collections and regional galleries.

Closes 21 September 2025


 

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