LONDON.- Dulwich Picture Gallery has announced a celebratory weekend of events taking place 6-7 September 2025 to mark the completion of major development projects that will transform the public offering of the first purpose-built public art gallery. Extending the visitor experience across three acres of additional green space, it represents the biggest redevelopment at Dulwich Picture Gallery in over 20 years, incorporating a new permanent ArtPlay Pavilion and families’ café, as well as an expansion of the free to access Sculpture Garden. As part of the project, elements of Sir John Soane’s 1811 plans for the Gallery will be restored, including a new site entrance on Gallery Road and the opening up of sweeping views across the gardens.


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Central to the developments is the new ArtPlay Pavilion by architecture practice Carmody Groarke housing creative play and activities for families, set in the Sculpture Garden. The ArtPlay Pavilion, supported by the Julia Rausing Trust, will immerse under 8-year-olds in a sensory-rich play space designed by artistic duo Sarah Marsh and Stephanie Jefferies of HoLD Collective. Play activities will be inspired by the Gallery's historic paintings: children will be able to run over Canaletto’s bridge and swing in Poussin’s clouds.

Carmody Groarke will also extend Gallery Cottage to create The Canteen, which will serve as a school lunches area as well as a family café and shop on weekends. These architectural interventions will provide much-needed facilities for the 150 local school groups the Gallery engages with, offering young children art-based learning experiences.

Designed by leading landscape artist Kim Wilkie, The Lovington Sculpture Meadow, which will also open later this year, is a key part of the Sculpture Garden. It has been created in a previously under-utilised field at the south side of the gardens featuring an ‘art forest’ of around 130 newly planted trees designed to enhance biodiversity in the area. The new species-rich meadow includes an undulating land art form inspired by the Gallery’s star work, Girl at a Window (1645) by Rembrandt van Rijn. The Lovington Sculpture Meadow is generously funded by The Lovington Foundation and will celebrate the environmental and health benefits of using green space for art.

This initiative launches a new series of contemporary sculptural installations, which will continually evolve across all areas of the Sculpture Garden. Works by leading contemporary artists will explore themes of nature and play, and connect with the Gallery’s Collection, aiming to spark curiosity and fun for people of all ages. Visitors can expect to encounter interactive sculptures by artists including Amy Stephens and Harold Offeh. New sculptures will join existing works by Yinka Shonibare CBE, Li Li Ren, Peter Randall-Page and Rob and Nick Carter. The latter’s Bronze Oak Grove became the first artwork to be acquired by the Gallery for over a decade in 2024.

Enhancing sustainability, a ground source heat pump will decarbonise the Gallery’s existing heating systems alongside supplying the new buildings, which will be installed with solar panels and are constructed with UK-grown timber frames resulting in low embodied carbon construction.

Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, said: “What a huge moment this is for Dulwich Picture Gallery as we transform our outdoor spaces. I am immensely grateful to all the supporters who have helped us to make our vision a reality, staying true to the Gallery’s founding idea that great art is made for sharing.”

The developments under the banner ‘Open Art’ will cost £5 million. Support has been secured from trusts and foundations as well as a public campaign, with £20,000 left to raise of the target. Dulwich Picture Gallery is a registered charity and does not receive regular Government or local authority funding. The vision for the project is to establish the Gallery as a must-visit cultural destination, expanding its reach and seeing visitor participation double to support its long-term sustainability.

‘Open Art’ follows on from the success of the Gallery’s temporary Pavilion projects of 2017 and 2019, which demonstrated public appetite for accessible, interactive art in the gardens. Construction began on site in late 2024 and the Gallery has remained open throughout. ‘Open Art’ is driven by the Gallery’s mission—to unlock art for all, to spark ideas and imaginations.



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