11/02/25
Iconic: Portraiture from Francis Bacon to Andy Warhol
Holburne Museum, Bath
24 January – 5 May 2025
An exhibition on portraiture at the Holburne Museum, renowned for its 18th-century collection? Hmm, so what’s new? Showcasing paintings for which photographs provided the source material? OK, that sounds rather different – 1822 at the earliest – and surely it must include something by Francis Bacon? Indeed, yes: the subtitle proposes the timeframe from Bacon to Andy Warhol. Aha, sounds interesting, but … Well, all I can say is that there are no buts! This small, one-room exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath has considered every angle and every detail and the result truly is a bijou gem.
In a sense, the exhibition begins on the landing, as the visitor steps out of the lift into a space with brick-red walls that make you feel absorbed into a safe and warm womb. And this colour goes with you into and around the exhibition. Although the walls within are a pale, bloodless grey, either end of the temporary wall in the centre is painted with the brick red, so that it holds you safe, like a pulsating umbilical cord.
Read my full review here