The Gallery has announced major exhibitions devoted to the work of artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Paula Rego.
The Courtauld Gallery has confirmed details of its 2027 exhibition programme which will include the first exhibition devoted to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico landscapes of pioneering American artist Georgia O’Keeffe; the most comprehensive presentation of Paula Rego’s ground-breaking Dog Womanseries since it was first exhibited over 30 years ago; and a showcase of four artists who transformed British art and the practice of landscape watercolour: Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), John Constable (1776-1837), Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842).
2027 will begin with Paula Rego: Dog Woman (5 February – 23 May 2027), which will be the first retrospective exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking series of pastels created by the artists. The works on display depict monumental, physically powerful women, tightly framed in stripped-down settings. Rego said that their power was derived from channelling her own raw, undiluted feelings, squatting and posing in front of a mirror, ‘turning myself into an animal’. She also described these works as love stories, rendering the complex emotions of desire, longing, rage, and submission. ‘In these pictures every woman’s a dog woman, not downtrodden but powerful. To be bestial is good.’ The show will be accompanied by Paula Rego: Pendle Witches on display in the Project Space.
Then from 1 June to the 5 September, Turner and the Landscape Generation. Journeys in Watercolour will take centre stage. The show will concentrate on the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), John Constable (1776-1837), Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) were part of a pioneering generation who transformed British art and the practice of landscape watercolour. This exhibition will trace journeys taken by these four artists – such as Turner’s travels in Switzerland and Germany, Cotman’s tour of Yorkshire, Constable’s trips to the Lake District, and journeys made by Girtin, Turner and Cotman across Wales.
Georgia O’Keeffe: Ghost Ranch will go on display from 1 October until the 30 January 2028. This exhibition will be the first to be devoted to the remarkable landscapes produced by the celebrated American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) at and around her home and studio at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. These workscreated over two decades from the mid 1930s to 1950s, form one of the most significant and original groups of landscape paintings of the 20th century, which transcend the conventions of the genre. Almost two dozen works will make up the exhibition, most of which have never been shown in the UK.
In addition to these exhibitions there will be a range of displays to enjoy including: Rubens: The Master and his Circle (26 May – 12 September 2027), Georgia O’Keeffe: Photographs at Ghost Ranch (1 October 2027 – 30 January 2028), Vanessa Bell: A Rediscovery (October 2027 – February 2028), Courtauld Commission 2026: Ella Walker (from 3 September 2026) and MA Curating exhibition (June – September 2027).
For more information visit: https://courtauld.ac.uk/