Abbot Hall Art Gallery

Abbot Hall Art Gallery Description

The Gallery is housed in one of Kendal's most important buildings, a Grade I listed villa, on the banks of the River Kent. The galleries offer two floors of light-filled spaces in which to see art. Abbot Hall has a comprehensive collection of George Romney's work. His paintings are hung in the elegant historical settings for which they were painted, amongst fine 18th-century furniture and porcelain.

Watercolours are shown in a small gallery reminiscent of a collector's private room, where a Turner can be seen next to a Ruskin and a Constable sketch sits in a cabinet next to works by Cotman, Cozens and Edward Lear. Abbot Hall has been one of the most active galleries collecting British art in recent years and important works have been acquired, ranging from a Turner watercolour of Windermere to portraits by Stanley Spencer and abstract paintings by Bridget Riley and Sean Scully. Abbot Hall has also secured some spectacular long-term loans, including works by Constable, L. S. Lowry and Lucian Freud.

As well as a fine permanent collection, Abbot Hall is acknowledged as having one of the most imaginative and independently minded temporary exhibition programmes outside London.

Opening Times - 2011

6th January - 18th December: Monday - Saturday 10.30 am - 5 pm (4 pm November - March).

Exhibition including free entry to collection - £6

Children - Free

Adults - £5.75

Group:

Abbot Hall Art Gallery only - £5.75

Museum of Lakeland Life only - £4

Abbot Hall & Museum of Lakeland Life combined - £6.50

Abbot Hall, Museum of Lakeland Life and Blackwell combined - £9.50.