Gwen John: Strange Beauties

Gwen John: Strange Beauties is the first major retrospective dedicated to the artist in more than 40 years, offering a comprehensive view of her career from her student days through her immersion in French modernism. The exhibition brings together John’s celebrated oil paintings with rarely seen drawings and watercolors, illuminating her working practices, artistic breadth, and enduring legacy. John, a Welsh-born artist who trained at the Slade School of Fine Art and later moved to France, frequently worked in series, exploring subtle variations of tone, form, and technique through repetition. The works on paper reveal lesser-known aspects of her methods, including plein air sketching and experimentation with abstracted, stylized figures and a vibrant palette. The show also examines the philosophical ideas that informed her practice, deepening understanding of her contributions to the 20th‑century avant‑garde.

Venue: National Museum of Women in the Arts.

When: July 30 to November 28, 2027.

Tickets: Pricing has not yet been announced.

Lineup: The exhibition features the work of Gwen John (1876–1939), now considered one of the premier British artists of the Post‑Impressionist era and sister of the flamboyant painter Augustus John.

Note: The exhibition is organized by Amgueddfa Cymru in partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland, the Yale Center for British Art, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and it will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.