Skip to content

Public art gallery reopens after £2m refit

Patrick O'HaganSouth of England, Southampton
News imageNahem Shoa A head and shoulders portrait of the artist Nahem Shoa shows him wearing a plain red top, looking slightly off to the right, his gaze fixed on somthing or somone we can't see.Nahem Shoa
Often described as one of the country's greatest art galleries, the newly refurbished Southampton City Art Gallery will specialise in 20th Century art

"This is a great moment not just for Southampton, but also for the whole country."

The Chairman of Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, thinks that the imminent reopening of the Southampton City Art Gallery shows the country's arts scene is in rude health.

Replacing some of the roof, windows and other structures cost £2.23 million, the vast majority of the money coming from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Museum Estate and Development Fund.

The gallery was closed a little over a year ago the building could be refurbished. It will open again on Saturday, March 7th. Admission will remain free.

News imageBBC/Nahem Shoa Wearing a grey a suit over an open neck white shirt, a smiling Sir Nicholas Serota is also wearing a pair of round, almost rimless glasses. He's standing alongside a portrait of the artist Nahem Shoa.BBC/Nahem Shoa
Arts Council England Chair Sir Nicholas Serota says it's vital museums like the Southampton City Art Gallery remain free to enter

Sir Nicholas said: "I think it's really important that our national and indeed our non-national museums remain free. They are part of the community and they should be enjoyed by everyone."

His favourite painting in the gallery is by the Berkshire artist Sir Stanley Spencer who died in 1959 though he says anyone interested in 20th Century British art should find something in the City Art Gallery to pique their interest.

"This is one of the great galleries anywhere in the United Kingdom, which has one of the greatest collections anywhere in the UK too" he said.

News imageBBC/Emma Richardson A smiling Emma Richardson is wearing a camel coloured overshirt with a white t-shirt underneath. She's standing in front of her own oil painting which merges red, orange, green paint colours in a striking, largely blurred pattern. BBC/Emma Richardson
Southampton artist Emma Richardson says it's her first museum show and 'to sort of think back to that 14 year old me, maybe having that dream, is quite something.'

Visitors will also be able to see a major new exhibition by the Southampton artist and musician Emma Richardson.

When she's not busy playing the bass guitar with the American alternative rock band The Pixies, Emma's been known to pick up the odd paint brush or two.

This is her first museum show and while she's not one to oversell herself: "I have always known I wanted to paint and have exhibitions and show my work and this is such a huge monumental moment for me.

"Southampton is my home town so to be able to be here and show this new body of work and to pick work from the collection is a real honour, a homecoming."