Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury

Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury is Tate Britain's major exhibition on two of the most inventive artists of the Bloomsbury Group. It brings together more than 300 works from their long partnership: portraits, still lifes and landscapes, but also painted furniture, ceramics and textiles. A highlight is a restaging of their studio at Charleston, the Sussex farmhouse they transformed into a work of art. The show runs from 12 November 2026 to 11 April 2027.

For designers and makers, the exhibition is a reminder that painting, interiors and objects can belong to one creative life.

About the Artists

Vanessa Bell (1879–1961), sister of the writer Virginia Woolf, and Duncan Grant (1885–1978) lived and worked together for more than fifty years. Both were central to the Bloomsbury Group of writers, artists and thinkers in early twentieth-century London. They were among the first British artists to absorb the lessons of Post-Impressionism, with bold colour and simplified forms, and they applied the same energy to decoration: walls, doors, fireplaces, textiles and pottery.

Through the Omega Workshops, founded by Roger Fry in 1913, they designed furniture, fabrics and objects for sale, blurring the line between fine and applied art.

About the Exhibition

Inside Bloomsbury follows their partnership through more than 300 works. Paintings sit alongside decorated furniture, ceramics and textiles, showing how the two artists moved freely between canvas and household objects. The restaged Charleston studio gives a sense of the colourful, hand-painted world they built around themselves.

Exhibition Dates

12 November 2026 — Exhibition opens 11 April 2027 — Exhibition closes

Why Visit Inside Bloomsbury?

Few exhibitions show so clearly how artists can design an entire way of living. Textile designers, illustrators and ceramicists will find patterns, colour combinations and decorative ideas on every surface. Painters will see how Bell and Grant translated modern French painting into a distinctly British idiom.

Who Should Visit?

• Textile, surface pattern and interior designers
• Painters and illustrators interested in colour
• Ceramicists and makers
• Readers of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury writers

Tickets and Events

The exhibition is ticketed, and Tate members enter free. Tate runs a programme of talks and tours, including exhibition tours on selected Saturday mornings and relaxed hours on the third Wednesday of each month. Check the Tate website for prices and dates.

Planning Your Visit

Tate Britain is on Millbank, near Pimlico station, with a riverboat link to Tate Modern. If the exhibition inspires you, Charleston in Sussex is open to visitors, and is easy to reach by train from London for a day trip.

Charleston and Bloomsbury Design

At Charleston, Bell and Grant painted almost every surface: doors, bookcases, bed heads, fireplaces and tables. Their decoration was loose, colourful and personal, a world away from the polished design of their time. Today it inspires interior designers, illustrators and pattern makers, and many of their motifs have been reissued as fabrics and wallpapers. Seeing the original objects up close reveals the brushwork and the pleasure of making that went into them.

Tips for Visiting

The exhibition is large, so allow at least two hours. Take a sketchbook for pattern ideas, and look closely at the ceramics and textiles as well as the paintings. Tate Britain's free collection displays nearby include more British art of the same period.

Things to Know

• Dates: 12 November 2026 – 11 April 2027.
• Over 300 works across painting, furniture, ceramics and textiles.
• Charleston studio restaged in the gallery.
• Members free.

Visit the Exhibition

Planning a visit?

Visit Tate Britain

Tickets, talks and opening hours are on the official Tate website.

Looking for more to see? Browse all events, festivals and exhibitions on Good Stuff Weekly.

Last verified: October 29, 2026