New Museum & Art Swindon exhibition

A new portrait exhibition has opened at Museum & Art Swindon as the venue continues to showcase Swindon’s nationally-acclaimed collection of artworks.

The How You See Me: 400 Years of Portraiture from Swindon's Museums exhibition explores fundamental questions that remain as relevant today as they were hundreds of years ago such as: 

- Why do we want our portraits painted? 

- What do our portraits reveal about who we are? How has the way we represent ourselves changed throughout history?

From formal portraits of the Stuart period to individualistic approaches in the 20th Century, the exhibition takes artworks from across the collections of Lydiard House Museum, STEAM Museum and Museum & Art Swindon and looks at stories bound up with class, status and gender.

The earliest artworks on display date from the early 1600s. They show how esteemed members of the St John Family from Lydiard St John demonstrated their power, wealth and status. 

Over seven generations, the way family members were depicted in portraiture changed from showing their newly-elevated status and loyalty to the crown to a less formal and more romantic demonstration of the family’s place in society.

Portraits and photographs from STEAM Museum and Museum & Art Swindon show both the rise of the middle and industrial class alongside the rise of common portraiture with the introduction of photography. 

Works from the modern and contemporary British art collection at Museum & Art Swindon, then explore the relationship between painter, sitter and viewer, before visitors are invited to think about how they present themselves to the world.

The team at Museum & Art Swindon welcomed guests to a private viewing of the new art exhibition.

After welcome speeches from Frances Yeo (Swindon Museums Manager), Michael Gray (Friends of Lydiard Park Chair) and Andrew Cross (Friends of Museum & Art Swindon Chair), guests were invited to view this exciting new exhibition before anyone else.

Frances Yeo said: “It’s been such a pleasure to welcome friends and supporters from each of our museums to Museum & Art Swindon for a first view of this exhibition which celebrates the extraordinary range of our collections.

“The exhibition gives visitors a very different view of the portraits usually displayed at Lydiard House Museum, and we hope this taste of Lydiard will encourage more people to want to find out more about the lives of the St John family by visiting Lydiard.

“We know that the exhibition will draw people interested in portrait art and we’ll be working on talks and tours, as well as community, family and schools activities to accompany it.”

How You See Me: 400 Years of Portraiture from Swindon's Museums is open at Museum & Art Swindon until 3 January 2027.

Museum and Art Swindon is located at the Civic Offices in Euclid Street and admission is free. Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 4.30pm, Monday and Sunday closed.