Paintings by Winston Churchill On Display For First Time in Britain
- Editor OGN Daily
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
50 paintings by the statesman, including unseen works held in private collections, are to go on show at in a British exhibition celebrating the wartime leader’s “daubs”.
Churchill took up painting during his years in the political wilderness in the 1930s. As he led the country to victory over the Nazis during the Second World War, his output dwindled to just one known artwork, but after his retirement he created hundreds more. He called his works “daubs” and many were kept private or given as gifts to friends. But they have proved popular in exhibitions in the US, and some are worth millions of pounds - including The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, which was sold by Angelina Jolie in 2021.
It was originally gifted to his friend and ally President Franklin D Roosevelt after the 1943 Casablanca Conference. The painting was expected to sell for £2.5 million, a record for one of Churchill's works, but actually achieved £8.2 million ($10.8m) at Christie’s auction house.
In this major retrospective and first exhibition of Churchill’s creative oeuvre here in the UK since his death, the Wallace Collection will bring together more than 50 paintings that represent the very best of the former Prime Minister’s output. Half of the loans are coming from private collections and have rarely, if ever, been seen before in public. The exhibition will also showcase a large group of works on loan from Chartwell, Churchill’s family home for over forty years of his life and now managed by the National Trust, a major lender to the exhibition.
Churchill, who died in 1965 aged 90, left written wishes that his pastime paintings should not be exhibited in his lifetime. He was urged to show his canvases in 1955, but refused. There have been numerous US displays of Churchill’s art since his death - such as last year's show at Heather James Fine Art in Palm Desert, California - but until now there has been no dedicated exhibition in a British public gallery, even as collectors have taken a growing interest in his works.
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Following a chronological approach, Winston Churchill: The Painter will span his activity as an artist from his first attempts during the First World War (1914-18) through to the 1960s, shortly before his death. The retrospective show at the Wallace Collection in London is due to start in May 2026.
Image credit for trio: L & R Churchill Heritage Ltd, centre Health James Fine Art