Love & Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk

Gainsborough’s House is partnering with Stanley Spencer Gallery to present a major exhibition of the works of one of England’s greatest twentieth-century painters, Sir Stanley Spencer (1891–1959).

The exhibition will include major loans from Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries, and other public lenders, as well as rarely-seen works from private collections. Stanley Spencer is one of the most important and original artists in twentieth-century British art. He lived for most of his life in his native village of Cookham, which played a large part in the subject matter of his paintings.

Spencer’s art was rooted in both his relationships and deep sense of place. Drawing on new research, this exhibition will explore Spencer’s personal relationships and artistic development through his visits to Suffolk in the 1920s and 1930s. Spencer married fellow artist, Hilda Carline, in Wangford, Suffolk. The couple were joined on their honeymoon by Stanley’s brother Gilbert, who had introduced them. The previous year, Hilda, her brother–the artist Richard Carline–and Stanley had all stayed in Wangford, where their artistic practice and personal relationships developed in tandem.

This major exhibition curated in collaboration with the Stanley Spencer Gallery will focus on the artist’s work in Suffolk, where he married Hilda Carline in 1925, and returned to a decade later. 

Part of the exhibition will be on display at the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham, Berkshire from 2 April – 1 November 2026.

Image (detail):
Stanley Spencer (1891–1959)
Southwold, 1937
Oil on canvas
Aberdeen Art Gallery
© Aberdeen City Council (Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums)