Shrigley to hang work alongside Rembrandt at Dulwich
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- David Shrigley will exhibit new commissions at Dulwich Picture Gallery from 25 May to 5 September 2027, his first solo show in a UK public art museum since his 2012 Hayward Gallery retrospective
- The exhibition will place Shrigley's works in dialogue with 17th-century Dutch and Flemish masterpieces by Jan Steen, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers the Younger, Adriaen van Ostade, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Rembrandt van Rijn
- Dulwich Picture Gallery head of collection Helen Hillyard said Shrigley 'has an instinct for finding the funny side of everyday life' and is 'the perfect artist to bring back playfulness to the old masters'
- Shrigley, a past Turner prize nominee, is known for distinct line drawings and playful subject matter; recent installations include the 2021 Mayfair Tennis Ball Exchange and a 2025 show at Stephen Friedman Gallery featuring 10 tons of used rope with a £1m price tag
- The gallery's wider 2027/28 programme includes what is understood to be the first UK museum exhibition devoted to French artist Jacqueline Marval (1866–1932), running 2 February to 9 May 2027
- A major retrospective of British Pakistani postwar modernist Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928–1985) will run 21 September to 16 January 2027, described as the first UK major museum exhibition of his work in more than 30 years, alongside solo displays featuring new commissions by Sahara Longe and Caroline Walker
Why it matters: Dulwich Picture Gallery — home to one of Britain's most significant collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings — is staking its 2027/28 headline slot on a Turner-nominated contemporary artist whose humor-first practice will be measured against Rembrandt and Steen, a pairing that frames Shrigley as a legitimate inheritor of the old masters' tradition rather than a pop-culture curiosity.
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