Tag: exhibition

Celebrating the work of the Drill Hall resident artists and makers

  • Cellular Exhibition – Tuesday 14th to Friday 24th April
  • Exciting FREE exhibition showcasing the work of Drill Hall residents
  • Featuring over 20 artists and makers from paintings and illustration to jewellery
  • Meet the artists: Wednesday 15th April (6.30pm – 8.30pm)

Out of the Blue Drill Hall is excited to host a new exhibition showcasing the work of over 20 of its resident artists and makers, from painters and illustrators to jewellery makers and printmakers. 

This 6th showcase exhibition will run from Tuesday 14th to Friday 24th April (10am to 5pm) with an opportunity to meet the artists and makers on Wednesday 15th April from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at the official exhibition launch.

Every great work of art starts with a single cell – a solitary thought, a lone brushstroke, a single spark. The artists and makers of the Drill Hall emerge from their individual workspaces to weave these threads together. 

Cellular invites you to explore a diverse ecosystem of work, bridging the gap between the maker’s private process and the public’s gaze.

With so many artists and makers taking part, there really is something for everyone. Painters include award-winning artist Daniel Murray. Working in acrylics on board, he paints realistic portrayals of the human form and the natural world, often mixing these subjects with abstracted landscapes inspired by the highland environment he grew up in.

Leith Jewellery Studios founder Amanda McGrattan will be showing her jewellery at the exhibition. Amanda’s work has been inspired by the grit and vibrancy of graffiti and urban street art. She translates the world around her into wearable narratives using a signature blend of textured and oxidized silver, liquid and powder enamels, and vivid acrylics. 

Textile work includes pieces by Needle Bow, a garment and accessories brand, designing and producing bespoke garments and accessories, using upcycled materials wherever possible.

The exhibition is being co-curated by painter Aoife O’Callaghan and textile artist Monika Fejes of Remode Collective. They’ll both be exhibiting and showcasing their work.

Aoife comments: “I am excited to be building on our previous exhibition.  The sense of community amongst the Drill Hall tenants is growing,  and I’m looking forward showcasing some of our work in our home-studio environment.” 

Out of the Blue Chief Executive Rob Hoon adds “The Out of the Blue Drill Hall houses a huge range of creative activity, and it’s a great pleasure to see the variety and quality of artists’ work displayed in the Cellular Exhibition, for all to enjoy.”  

Details of the Cellular Exhibition, as well as a list of participating artists and makers can be found on the Drill Hall website.

Participating Artists and Makers

  • Stamped Cat (Linocut prints)
  • Violetta Palak Jones (Paintings)
  • Daniel Murray (Paintings)
  • Graeme Walker (Abstract paintings)
  • Cam Life Designs (Jewellery, precious metal weaving, painting / sculpture)
  • Solen Collet (Photography)
  • Martin Fishman (Jewellery)
  • Jacob Danson Faraday (Jewellery, metal work)
  • Aoife in Leith (Paintings)
  • Shamil Sokolov (Jewellery)
  • Lawfieldcrafts (Silver and glass)
  • AMcGrattanJewellery (Handmade jewellery)
  • Gillie Welstead (Silver and gold jewellery)
  • Mairi MacSween Designs (Illustration)
  • Needle Bow (Textiles)
  • Ylfa (Accessories & jewellery – head pieces, hair pins and earrings)
  • Second Sun (Silver jewellery)
  • Elaine Wilson (Painting and tapestry)
  • Guy Howe Conners (Jewellery)
  • Samuel Watterworth (Plotter art)
  • Felicity Inkpen (Paintings, drawings and prints)
  • Knockwood Studio (Music and its visualisations)
  • Remode Collective (Mixed media textile art)

Follow Out of the Blue Drill Hall on Facebook and Instagram

Poster designed by Cameron Murdoch of CAM Life Designs.

The Digital Mirror

Discover the intriguing digital photography of Scottish artist Wendy McMurdo in her biggest ever exhibition at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror

30 May – 25 October 2026

National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

Free admission

Wendy McMurdo | The Digital Mirror | National Galleries of Scotland

From 30 May, discover leading Scottish photographer Wendy McMurdo’s biggest exhibition to date, spanning over 20 years of the artist’s career, for free at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait.

Explore McMurdo’s photographic reflections on childhood, the digital world, learning and make-believe in Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror. Featuring over 50 works, visitors will find some never-before seen photographs as well as several rarely seen digital animations newly configured to respond to the context of the historic Portrait gallery building.

McMurdo has blazed a trail in the experimental use of computers and digital tools in photography, from the early days of computer-based learning in schools to the growth of the internet and networked gaming. Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror presents the ground-breaking work of the artist, made between 1995 and 2018, exploring the evolving role of computers in children’s lives.

Coming at a time when the digital landscape is changing faster than ever before, with technology offering limitless possibilities and children spending more and more time online, the exhibition offers a fascinating response to the impact of technology on learning and play in childhood.

Growing up in Edinburgh and attending Edinburgh College of Art, McMurdo became a regular visitor to galleries and museums. She was influenced by key works in Scotland’s national art collection such as Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (The Skating Minister), and the sculptural work of Leith-born artist Eduardo Paolozzi. 

Showing how the artist takes inspiration from the past to create photographic works like Avatar (i) and the Robot Workshop series, both the iconic Skating Minister and several Paolozzi sculptures will be displayed in the exhibition alongside McMurdo’s photographs.  Visitors will also be able explore a range of other objects which have influenced the artist’s practice.

Thinking about the evolution of play, McMurdo has selected a collection of early 20th century dolls on loan from the Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh. McMurdo has included them in the exhibition to share the lasting impact they have had on her work and ideas, and in recognition of the importance of local museums on her own creative development.

Discover McMurdo’s moving image works, created using digital animation and source material such as conversations from online gaming chatrooms.

See how she has presented these in new configurations within the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait Library and Upper Balcony areas in response to the historic building and the collection it holds.

Installed at the centre of the exhibition, is McMurdo’s large moving image work, Indeterminate Objects (Classrooms), which was originally commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery, London in 2017.

The work combines photography with three-dimensional animated forms similar in appearance to those associated with computer games such as Minecraft.

McMurdo uses hovering shapes to cast a shadow on an empty classroom to explore how children – like adults – are increasingly subject to a world augmented by data and simulation. In making this work, McMurdo was reflecting on her observations of the pervasive nature of online games and virtual worlds and the way these digital spaces shape how children think, play and learn about themselves, each other and the world. 

The exhibition will also include a display of McMurdo’s working photography contact sheets, revealing some of the technology and processes she has evolved to generate her own dreamlike imagery. McMurdo’s photographic works often start as a result of group workshops. From multiple tests and countless variations, new bodies of work then emerge.

Many of the works in the exhibition were made during a period of rapid technological development, McMurdo delves into the ways in which the introduction of computers for example changed children’s educational experience  and the changing nature of play.

Discover Let’s Go to a Place, an installation that explores the collision between real and digital worlds, through a series of portraits of primary school children.

This body of work was created around the same time as the mobile game, Pokémon Go was at the height of popularity, the work reflects on the impact of location-based gaming and technology on children’s play, capturing the dual existence in both the physical and virtual worlds. 

McMurdo is a pioneering figure in Scottish art and a key contributor to Scotland’s international reputation as a centre for experimental contemporary art. This exhibition coincides with the bicentenary year of the Royal Scottish Academy to which McMurdo was the first woman photographer to be elected.

To coincide with the exhibition, visitors to the Library in the Portrait gallery will be able to read a new brochure. The free publication includes two new pieces of writing on McMurdo’s work by Patricia Allmer, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, University of Edinburgh and David Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Art History, University of Glasgow. 

Wendy McMurdo said: “With new legislation focussing on the impact of online culture on children’s lives, now is a particularly apt time to revisit this body of work.

“It is an invitation to celebrate play and creativity and to consider the wider implications of new technologies on the lives of young people.”

Ben Harman, Senior Curator of Photography and Lead Curator of Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We’re excited to have this opportunity to celebrate a pioneering body of photographic work by an artist based in Edinburgh with an internationally-renowned reputation in the world of contemporary photography.”

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror is a free exhibition opening at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait on 30 May 2026.

Ideas of tomorrow on display at rare engineering show led by students

Engineering students at one of the country’s leading STEM‑focused universities are offering the public a rare chance to see the ideas shaping the world around us.

Hosted at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus on April 01, the Civil Engineering Degree Show will feature real‑world projects developed by students across all years of learning.

The event centres on new thinking driving the future of transport, sustainable energy, coastal protection, Net Zero buildings and the water systems essential to everyday life.

The exhibition takes place on campus and is designed for anyone with an interest in how Scotland’s infrastructure develops, including industry, schools, local authorities and members of the public.

Rod Macdonald, Associate Professor at the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, who is leading the event said: “This is a unique opportunity for visitors to speak directly with the people who will design and deliver the infrastructure our communities depend on.”

“Our students are already thinking at the scale of Scotland’s major transport links, our future energy needs, our coastal resilience and the systems that support safe, sustainable living.

“It’s been incredibly inspiring working alongside them on their various projects and it’s great to see how they are all thinking beyond today, looking at what society will need decades from now, and translating that into innovative, practical designs.”

The show takes place from 2–6pm in the James Watt Centre Foyer, offering the public the opportunity to meet the students and academics behind the projects.

Eleven exhibitions will be on display, highlighting the breadth of civil engineering work at Heriot‑Watt, from early concept models to complex design projects tackling real‑world challenges.

Projects on display will explore how smarter cities and infrastructure could be designed in the future, while also addressing climate and sustainability challenges, the creation of energy‑efficient infrastructure, improved transport for growing populations and new ways to build communities that are resilient by design.

Shadi Mohamed, Associate Professor at the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society added: “Each exhibition shows a different stage of learning, from first‑year students beginning design work to the final‑year teams completing Professional Design Projects that mirror real‑world industry challenges.

“Visitors will see how our students are planning for future transport, energy, coastal resilience, water networks and Net Zero buildings, all shown through models, visuals and direct conversations with the teams.”

Last year’s Degree Show included a standout project that explored how Edinburgh’s South Suburban Line could be reopened to passengers for the first time in more than sixty years, using low‑carbon tram‑train technology to better connect communities across the city.

The work drew strong public interest and showed how students at Heriot‑Watt apply their learning to real infrastructure challenges facing Scotland.

Events like the degree show reflect the practical approach that prepares graduates from Heriot‑Watt to step into roles with the technical confidence and real‑world experience needed to contribute from day one.

Students also benefit from practical learning opportunities such as ConStructEdScotland, where second years’ 3work alongside professional engineers and tradespeople to build full‑scale structures, gaining early insight into how designs become real projects.

The University’s approach prepares students to understand both local and global challenges, with an emphasis on sustainability, resilience and long‑term community benefit.

These strengths are supported by close relationships with partners such as the Civil Engineering Industry Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from AECOM, ARUP, Balfour Beatty, Halcrow, Jacobs, Buro Happold and WSP Group, ensuring teaching stays aligned with industry needs.

To learn more about the Degree Show, please visit:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heriot-watt-university-civil-engineering-degree-show-2026-tickets-1983870264365

Self-portrait by Scottish painter Jack Vettriano to go on display at National Galleries of Scotland

National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

Portrait of the Artist, Jack Vettriano

1 March 2026 –  2029

Free

Commemorating one year since the passing of celebrated Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, National Galleries of Scotland has announced it is to showcase two works by the artist.

Celebrating the life and prolific career of Vettriano, the artist’s estate will loan two self-portraits Portrait of the Artist and Homage to Fontana? over a six-year period. Portrait of the Artist will go on display on the one-year anniversary of his passing on 1 March 2026, at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait.

Free to visit, the painting will stay on display until early 2029 when it will then be swapped with Homage to Fontana?.

A self-taught painter, Vettriano was loved at home in Scotland and internationally for his evocative and timeless works that continue to captivate and inspire. His career made a huge contribution to the Scottish arts and culture scene and even broke records in the UK and Scotland.

In 2004 his painting The Singing Butler achieved a record price for a Scottish painting sold at auction and went on to become the best-selling art print in the UK. The work even inspired Banksy, whose reimagining of the painting sold in March 2025 for £4.3million. Vettriano is internationally recognised, with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Tim Rice among collectors of his work.

Portrait of the Artist, painted in 1993, is an early self-portrait by Vettriano and was painted a year after The Singing Butler. It depicts the artist taking a break from painting at his Edinburgh flat where he had a studio. A dramatic depiction of light and shade sets the scene for a moment of contemplation. The artist’s paint-splattered clothes emphasise the task at hand.

The cinematic Homage to Fontana? was painted later in 1999. The title and slashes in the painted canvas reference the Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) whose slashed canvases of the 1950s and 60s blurred the distinction between two and three dimensions to create ‘an infinite dimension’.

Vettriano invites us to follow his act of contemplation in relation to what lies beneath the surface and beyond. The painting returned to Edinburgh in July 2025 after its inclusion in a Vettriano exhibition at the Palazzo Pallavicini in Bologna and is the largest of three versions of this composition.

Born Jack Hoggan, Vettriano grew up in the coastal mining village of Methil in Fife. After leaving school at 15, he followed his father down the mine, working as an apprentice engineer.

He later moved on to white-collar jobs in management services, taking up painting as a hobby in the 1970s when a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his birthday.

From then on, Vettriano spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint.

He learned by copying Old Masters, Impressionists, Surrealists and a plethora of Scottish artists, taking inspiration from studying the collection at Kirkcaldy Galleries. It was his experience living near Leven Beach which prompted him to make the decision: ‘I’m going to set some paintings on beaches.’  

A figurative painter, Vettriano described his work as ‘more or less autobiographical.’ He worked from photographs of scenes he staged with models in his studio.

His paintings evoke the nostalgia of the 1940s and 50s and were often set, in the artist’s own words, in ‘sombre and sordid interiors’. Vettriano’s dramatic use of light and shade is a distinctive element of his work and heightens the stories of love, sex and betrayal in his paintings. 

In the late 1980s he moved to Edinburgh and took his mother’s last name, Vettriano. The artist’s breakthrough came in 1988 when he submitted two works to the Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition, with both works selling within the first day.

Subsequently he was courted by several galleries, with his first solo exhibition in Edinburgh in 1992. Soon, his works began to gather international acclaim, leading to exhibitions in London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.

The first major retrospective of his work was at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in 2013 and featured Homage to Fontanna?.  The exhibition was record-breaking, attracting more than 136,000 visitors over its five-month run.

Imogen Gibbon, Head of Portraiture & Photography & Chief Curator at the National Galleries Scotland, said: ‘‘We’re thrilled to be welcoming visitors to the Portrait gallery to come and see Portrait of the Artist – by Jack Vettriano. It feels particularly significant that we are able to showcase a self-portrait to celebrate Vettriano’s contribution to Scottish culture on the anniversary of his death.

“This portrait and the subsequent work Homage to Fontana? will take their place on loan in The Modern Portrait display amongst the many other contemporary portraits of Scots who have made an impact at home in Scotland and internationally.

“National Galleries of Scotland extend our thanks to the artists estate, who came to us with this idea and supported us to make it happen’.”

Carolyn Osborne,  Director, Jack Vettriano Publishing Limited, said: ‘Jack was known as The People’s Painter and it’s entirely fitting that the public will be able to see one of his paintings in such a beautiful setting within a mile of where it was painted.’

Rag: A History of Blood

NEW EXHIBITION at THE ROYAL COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (“the College”) is later this week launching a new exhibition “Rag: A History of Blood.” The exhibition- which runs from Friday 27th February- uncovers the history of blood and explores the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, menstruation and menopause as well as the subject of scientific racism.

It will feature textile art created by artist Leigh Bowser and The Blood Bag Project, a craft project which raises awareness of Diamond Blackfan Anaemia and includes interviews with HIV/AIDS survivors and specialists who were working during the height of the global HIV epidemic including Edinburgh-based Dr Jacqui Mok. A first edition of rare text Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s Arcana Naturae Detecta – the book which showed the first ever drawing of a blood cell- will be on display. The exhibition is divided into the themes of blood-based scientific discoveries, blood myths and stigma and the blood trade.

Blood has been studied and analysed for thousands of years and examined for its ability to give life, to spread disease and to sow division. Bringing together artefacts spanning scientific illustrations, textile art, interviews, early modern rare books and medicines, “Rag: A History of Blood” highlights the social, medical and cultural impact of blood.

Dr Daisy Cunynghame (curator of ‘Rag: A History of Blood’) said: “Blood is fascinating because it is so much more than a body fluid. We might need it to live, but we also need it as an idea, as a basis for our storytelling and our social taboos. We use it to mean so many things – the blue blooded, the blood brothers, each from our own bloodline.

“ We really wanted this exhibition to have a grounding of science, but to look at how the idea of blood touches all of our lives.

The idea that menstruation is a source of shame, and how that ancient idea is still with us now and still makes people ashamed to admit they are on their period, or they are going through the menopause.

“It was fascinating pouring through hundreds and hundreds of historic images of wombs in our collections and yet not being able to find any of non-pregnant women. And to read the euphemistic language used – ‘the flowers’, ‘the sickness’ and ‘the monthlies’ for menstruation, ‘the change’, ‘unthroned queen’ or ‘old maid’s anxiety’.”

Exhibition Launch of Rag: A History of Blood | Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Explore the vibrant work of renowned Scottish artist Joan Eardley at the National Galleries of Scotland

Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting 

2 April – 28 June 2026 

National Galleries Scotland: Modern Two, Ground Floor 

Free admission 

Joan Eardley | The Nature of Painting | National Galleries of Scotland 

Step inside the mind and brush strokes of much-loved Scottish artist Joan Eardley with a fresh insight into her powerful and expressive paintings in a new, free, two-room exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland. 

Taking over the ground floor of National Galleries Scotland: Modern Two from April Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting will explore the artist’s vibrant artworks from a whole new perspective. Consisting solely of works from Scotland’s national collection, this exhibition will bring together over 30 of Joan Eardley’s artwworks, alongside some of the most notable names in the art world including Claude Monet, John Constable, Bet Low, William McTaggart, Jean Dubuffet and Antoni Tàpies. It will offer a unique opportunity to look at how the beloved Scottish artist engaged with the world and artists around her. 

Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting will feature 14 of Eardley’s oil paintings from the Scottish national collection alongside a selection of her works on paper and archival materials. Immerse yourself in Eardley’s iconic views of coastal village Catterline, discover never-before-seen objects from her studio in Glasgow and come face to face with the Glaswegian children who inspired many of her works. 

The Nature of Painting follows previous National Galleries of Scotland exhibitions dedicated to Eardly’s artwork including Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place at Modern Two in 2017 and Joan Eardley & Catterline at Modern One in 2022. 

This new exhibition for 2026 will present a fresh perspective on her artistic practice, inviting visitors to view her paintings amidst a variety of artists and movements, while exploring the possibilities of influence and interest. 

Key works on display in Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting will include the glimmering Summer Fields (about 1961) in which a bright golden cornfield dominates a grey Catterline sky. 

This painting comes to life in more ways than one, through both Eardley’s expressive brushstrokes and the inclusion of real blades of grass and wheat from the environment around her, giving insight into her artistic methods. 

Several other scenes of Catterline will also be displayed including the atmospheric Catterline in Winter (1963) and Hedgerow with Grasses and Flowers (1962-1963), inspired by the wildflower fields behind Eardley’s cottage.

Visitors will also meet sisters Anne and Pat Samson, immortalised in childhood through Children and Chalked Wall 3 (1962-1963). In this portrait, Eardley’s signature bold style captures the essence of Anne and Pat’s endearing smiles, as they huddle together in a moment of sisterly affection.

The girls are surrounded by a collage of newspapers and painted graffiti, as well as silver and gold papers, presumed to be sweet wrappers. This portrait, displayed in the exhibition along with others including Street Kids (1949-1951), tells the stories of real Glasgow children who lived close to Eardley’s studio, and captures their friendliness and community spirit which Eardley admired. 

Born in West Sussex in 1921, Eardley moved to Glasgow with her family during the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and Hospitalfield House where she was taught by Scottish artists including Hugh Adam Crawford and James Cowie. It was during this time that she began to shape her preference for painting everyday subjects. Eardley rented a studio in the centre of Glasgow in 1948, and a few years later moved to Townhead, where the local children became her artistic subjects.  

In 1954, she bought a cottage in the small fishing village of Catterline, south of Aberdeen. Catterline’s coastal charm and dramatic seascapes formed the subject of many of Eardley’s paintings, providing the perfect setting for her expressive artwork to flourish. After her untimely passing from cancer in 1963, Eardley’s ashes were scattered on the beach at Catterline, creating a lasting bond between the artist and the place which inspired her. 

A range of archival and photographic materials from the Scottish national collection will also be displayed in Modern Two’s Keiller Library. 

Donated to the National Galleries of Scotland in 1987 by Eardley’s sister Patricia, the artist’s archive contains a range of interviews, photographs and personal contents from her studio. This display will give a glimpse into the artist’s world, painting a picture of the woman behind the artwork, as well as giving context to what she admired most in the work of others.  

For the very first time, visitor favourite from the Scottish national collection Grainstacks: Snow Effect (1891) by Claude Monet will go on display amongst Eardley’s artwork. A key founder of the Impressionist movement, Monet was known for finding his source of inspiration in the outdoors, bringing nature to life through abstract brushstrokes and textures, much like Eardley’s paintings of the Catterline landscape. 

The gentle gold light across frosty stacks of grain and bold use of paint echoes elements Eardley used in Summer Fields. Bringing these artworks together especially for this exhibition highlights artistic similarities spanning generations, whether intentional or not.  

Kerry Gledhill, Senior Librarian and Lead Curator of Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “Joan Eardley was an artist so completely driven to paint the truth of what she saw around her that she pushed her medium to its very limits.

“She was drawn to subjects which tap into a common humanity, a connection to nature or a sense of community and kinship. Like all great artists, her paintings speak to us across the intervening decades.

“The opportunity to show Eardley’s work alongside that of Constable, Monet and Tàpies, to name just a few, gives us a unique insight into the nature of painting, experimentation and creativity.” 

Joan Eardley: The Nature of Painting is a free National Galleries of Scotland exhibition opening in the lower galleries of Modern Two on Thursday 2 April 2026. 

Knitted Bible Exhibition at Blackhall St Columba’s next month

We are excited to bring this exhibition to Scotland for only the 2nd time in its history. Please look at the notice to see when it is available to see and come along with some friends.

We hope to see you here.

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Glamorous Edwardians to be explored in major Edinburgh exhibition

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance

The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse                         

24 April – 6 December 2026

A glamorous, never-before-exhibited portrait of Queen Mary and a miniature sleigh made of rock crystal will be among highlights on show in Scotland for the first time in a major exhibition opening this spring. 

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance will explore the glitzy world of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary – through their family connections, royal events, global travels and art collecting.

The exhibition will open in Edinburgh following a successful run in London and is the first Royal Collection Trust exhibition to explore the Edwardian era. It will bring together more than 150 items including fashion, paintings and books, as well as personal items such as jewellery, photographs and chinaware, more than half of which are on show in Scotland for the first time. Visitors will see works from the Royal Collection by many of the period’s most celebrated names, including Fabergé, Tiffany & Co,and Edward Burne-Jones, and depictions of famous faces including composer Sir Edward Elgar.

Curator Kathryn Jones said: ‘The Edwardian era was a golden age of glamour and parties, but it was so much more than that; it was a fast-paced period making great advances in technology.

Our royal couples wanted to make the most of it all, living lavishly and embracing new trends, before the sobering arrival of war. Throughout, they were collecting art as a way to hold onto tradition and capture the rapidly changing world around them. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will enjoy stepping back in time to this exciting period.’

In 1863, Queen Victoria’s eldest son Albert Edward married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The marriage of the fashionable young couple – the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra – initiated a glamorous new era for the royal family, with Queen Victoria still in mourning and away from public life. Edward and Alexandra established a new, vibrant court filled with opulent balls, society events and contemporary art – a lifestyle continued by their son, the future King George V, and his wife Queen Mary.

Full-length portraits of the two Queens will open the exhibition, showcasing the spectacular fashions of the era. The portraits of Queen Alexandra by François Flameng, and Queen Mary by William Samuel Henry Llewellyn (which has never before been on public display) will be shown alongside marble busts of their husbands, Kings Edward and George. Both couples were fond of Scotland, with Edward having studied at the University of Edinburgh and George and Mary making regular visits and devotedly modernising the Palace of Holyroodhouse to make it once again suitable for royal entertaining.

Displays will evoke the interiors of the royal couples’ private residences, Marlborough House and Sandringham House, where the Edwardian fashion of filling every cabinet and covering every surface with small decorative objects or family photographs reigned.

A star object on display for the first time in Scotland is a paperweight shaped like a tiny 10cm-tall sledge with a figure lying on it by Robert Colquhon. Thought to have been Scottish, Colquhon was agoldsmith based in Russia who made small-scale decorative objects from rock crystal and silver of snowy subjects like sleighs and bears on ice floes. Edward and Alexandra collected several of his works – with one of his sleighs appearing in a photograph of Alexandra’s desk in Marlborough House in the 1890s.

Visitors will also learn of the relationships linking the family to the rest of Europe. Fabergé was introduced to the British royal family through Alexandra’s sister Dagmar, who had married Alexander III, Tsar of Russia. The royal patronage caused the popularity of Fabergé to soar in the UK, and on show will be 21 items from the firm, including an ornate picture frame holding a photograph of Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife; a cigarette case famously given to Edward by his official mistress Mrs Keppel; and six miniature figures of the royal couple’s favourite animals on the Sandringham estate.

As enthusiastic patrons of the arts, the Edwardians embraced new artistic movements including Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, and the burgeoning medium of photography.

Alexandra was particularly taken with the drawings of the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones, whose study for a larger painting inspired by Sleeping Beauty will be on display. A soft-focus photograph of Alexandrabyphotographer Alice Hughes was typical of her pioneering yet delicate style, and both are on display in Scotland for the first time.

Garden parties formed an essential part of the Edwardian social calendar, with the first taking place at the Palace of Holyroodhouse during the much-anticipated visit of George and Mary in 1911. Danish painter Laurits Tuxen had been introduced to Queen Victoria through her daughter-in-law Alexandra, and his painting of a garden party at Buckingham Palace captures the spirit of the joyous occasion.

Contributions to society were also celebrated through the founding of the Order of Merit in 1902 to recognise prominent figures in cultural, scientific or military life. George commissioned a portrait of each recipient – a tradition that continues to this day – and drawings of Sir Edward Elgar and the physicist Sir J.J. Thomson by Scottish artist William Strang will be on display for the first time in Scotland.

The turn of the century saw great improvements to methods of travel, and the Edwardian royals travelled further than any previous members of the royal family – collecting and receiving gifts as they went. In February 1901, George and Mary set sail for 10 months on HMS Ophir to open the new federal parliament in Melbourne, Australia. To mark the occasion, the ‘Ladies of Adelaide’ gave Mary a richly embroidered silk hanging featuring a eucalyptus tree and local varieties of irises and orchids. 

George and Mary visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse in July 1914, only a few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War. The glamour of the Edwardian era was being eclipsed by a serious atmosphere of duty – a sentiment led by the King, as Herbert Arnould Olivier’s study of King George V and Frank O. Salisbury’s painting The Passing of the Unknown Warrior, King George V as Chief Mourner, Whitehall attest. Collecting had now become a way to honour the many sacrifices made in the Great War; a more restrained and dutiful monarchy had emerged.

The King’s Gallery will continue to offer £1 tickets for visitors receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits. Other concessionary rates are available, including discounted tickets for Young People, half-price entry for children (with under-fives free), and the option to convert standard tickets bought directly from Royal Collection Trust into a 1-Year Pass for unlimited re-entry for 12 months.

Books as Art at Central Library

Our new exhibition on the Mezzanine, Books as Art, opens this Saturday 3rd January, our first day of services in 2026.

This exhibition presents a selection of artists’ books from the Art & Design Library, revealing the remarkable range and freedom of a form that continues to challenge how we see, read, and move through the world.

Bringing together works from Britain and abroad, the exhibition traces the many ways artists use the book as a site of exploration—from walking, observing, and documenting the everyday, to testing the boundaries between text and image, material and message, intimacy and public voice.

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Anna V Phillips exhibition at Madelvic House

Join us at granton:hub for our next exhibition, a 20 year retrospective from artist Anna V Phillips running Friday 28th to Sunday 30th November.

Artist statement:

“Brought up in a very artistic home, I’ve always had a deep love for art – but like many creative journeys, mine has taken a few detours along the way.

I moved to Aberdeen in 1978, where I studied Occupational Therapy, and stayed until 2006, during which time I was married and raised three Children.

I attended watercolour classes from 2003 – 2006. These included drawing, acrylics, gouache and soft pastels.

I lived in Houston, Texas for nine years (2006 – 2015).

I volunteered at The Printing Museum, where I met Charles Criner (1945 – 2025) the artist in residence. Charlea mentored me and introduced me to a wide variety of printing techniques – leaving a lasting impression on my artistic path.

I discovered @grantonhub Painting for Pleasure weekends in 2018, and with that, a new chapter began.

This is my first exhibition since my return to Edinburgh in 2015, so I have chosen to display artworks that follow my artistic journey.

I hope you take time to visit and enjoy this exhibition.”