The National Gallery’s 'The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil' by Monet travelling the UK in 2025-27
The National Gallery announces the partners for The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour 2025–27. These will be the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; South Shields Museum and Art Gallery; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour has been running for over a decade, and this marks the first edition of the tour which will work with four partners.
The work selected for the first year is Monet’s The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil (1872), a work which has left the Gallery only once in the last 20 years. Monet depicts a tranquil scene of a winter day on the outskirts of the small suburban town of Argenteuil, not far from Paris. Although the town was already partly industrialised and a popular location for sailing and leisure boating, Monet only hints at this developing bustle with a few scattered buildings behind a screen of trees. Instead, he focuses on an intimate moment by the river. The orderly composition, variety of brushstrokes and reflection in the water are all regular features of Monet’s work.
Since its inception in 2014, The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour has reached 400,953 people across the UK. Our National Touring programme, including The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour and other travelling exhibitions, has now reached 1,467,618 people since 2014. As part of our ongoing commitment to sharing the collection, this exhibition partnership, made possible by the generous support from Hiscox, offers four UK museums and galleries outside of London the opportunity to work with the National Gallery for three years and display three major artworks from the collection. For this edition of the Masterpiece Tour, partners will each connect with a local community organisation to support the exhibition or public programme related to the selected painting each year. Each partner will develop their own display to explore and draw out themes most relevant to them and their communities.
The Sainsbury Centre is the first museum in the world to recognise formally the living lifeforce of art, fostering the power of art to explore cultural dialogue and exchange. A radical new exhibition programme investigates the biggest questions people have in their lives today, such as ‘What is Truth?’ and ‘Why Do We Take Drugs?’. The display will tie into the 2025 season which explores the question ‘Can We Stop Killing Each Other?’. The painting will be located within a reflective space for contemplation as part of the exhibition experience. As part of their community programming, the Sainsbury Centre will use this space of sanctuary to further develop and research trauma-informed cafes as a part of their Compassionate Museum programme. These will be co-created with a range of partners working in the field of mental health and support for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
The exhibition with South Shields Museum and Art Gallery continues the National Gallery’s partnership with North East Museums, following Constable Visits Jarrow in 2023 and National Treasures: Turner in Newcastle at the Laing Art Gallery in 2024. In South Shields, the focus will be on bringing together Monet’s work with other landscape works from the South Shields collection and connecting with the local natural area. The exhibition will also feature artworks created as part of the ground-breaking engagement programme with the families of pupils experiencing Emotion-Based School Avoidance.
Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool will combine their expertise in hosting contemporary art exhibitions with the display of the Monet. Drawing on their approach to showing local, national and international art in the heart of the North West, the Monet will be exhibited alongside a solo exhibition by North West- based artist Louise Giovanelli, who is one of the most celebrated painters of the current generation. There will also be an Annual Schools exhibition following workshops responding to Monet’s work, and the artwork will also be embedded in their existing work with the pARTnership, a creative and professional development project for adults with learning disabilities.
The Ferens Art Gallery exhibition will be co-curated with Flourish, Ferens Art Gallery’s creative group for children and young people, organised with and for disabled and neurodivergent visitors. Together, they will create a multi-sensory immersive space that is an olfactory, acoustic and tactile experience. The exhibition will showcase select works from the Ferens’s vast collection alongside contemporary responses from Flourish to enable visitors to see and experience art from a new and inclusive perspective.
National Gallery Director Sir Gabriele Finaldi said: ‘The National Gallery’s collection belongs to all of us. It is part of our duty and our honour to look after these paintings and to bring them to where people are, not just expect them to come to us. Partnering on touring exhibitions does so much more than bring beloved paintings from the collection to other places in the UK - it supports the whole country's cultural ecosystem, connects people with paintings that belong to us all, and allows us to learn and expand our own practices and interpretations through the creativity of our partner organisations and their communities. That over one million people have visited these exhibitions in the last decade proves the desire to engage with our collection is growing, and we look forward to welcoming the next million visitors across the UK.’
Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Jago Cooper said: ‘Founded in the 1970s to radically change both who and how art is enjoyed in the UK, the Sainsbury Centre is delighted to be delivering on that museum mission 50 years on. This Masterpiece Partnership will help bring our approach to art to a wider national audience, as visitors come to experience the Monet painting in this unique context. We look forward to welcoming everyone here, to experience our Living Art approach that uses innovative experiential and technological pathways to help bring art to life. The emotion and empowerment that people feel using these new approaches here is perhaps why we have been nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award this year’.
Hiscox Head of Art and Private Clients, Robert Read, said: ‘Art is an important part of the culture at Hiscox, so we’re delighted to continue our support for the National Gallery, a world-renowned art institution with a total commitment to quality. As the gallery's first contemporary art partner, we are now entering the eighth year of our relationship and are very supportive of the Masterpiece Tour’s commitment to bringing important works of art to a wider audience. We look forward to working with the four chosen partners and expanding our support into new parts of the UK.’
Specialist insurer, Hiscox, is proud to support
The National Gallery 2025–27 Masterpiece Tour
Notes to editors
Image:
NG6395
Claude Monet
'The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil'
1872
Oil on canvas, 52.6 x 71.8 cm
© The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Artemisia Gentileschi, Bellini, Cezanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to care for and enhance the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. Admission free.
On 10 May 2024, the National Gallery celebrated its 200th anniversary and began its Bicentenary celebrations, a year-long festival of art and creativity and imagination marking two centuries of bringing people and paintings together.
Every year, the National Gallery partners with organisations and audiences across the UK in a range of different and innovative ways. We want to ensure that everyone in the UK can engage with their national collection. Over the past years we have partnered with a number of organisations through a range of projects including our flagship Masterpiece Tour, contemporary Artist-in-Residence programme, National Treasures, Visits tour and Take One Picture programme. We are always keen to hear from potential partners and explore ways in which we can engage with you and your audiences. If you are interested in partnering with us and would like more information about these exhibitions or opportunities to connect to our Learning programmes please contact: national.touring@nationalgallery.org.uk or visit our website: nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/the-gallery-nationwide
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
The Sainsbury Centre is a world-class art museum with a unique perspective on how art can foster cultural dialogue and exchange. Following a radical relaunch in 2023 the Sainsbury Centre is the first museum in the world to formally recognise the living lifeforce of art, enabling people to build relationships across an arts landscape.
The art of the Sainsbury Centre is able to help reframe and answer the most important questions people have in their lives. It is not a museum to only learn more about artists, cultures or movements like Francis Bacon, the Tang Dynasty or Modernism, it is a place of experience, where collections are animate, and visitors are emotionally connected.
One of the first museums in the world to display art from all around the globe and from all time periods equally and collectively, Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury created one of the most sought after yet non-conformist art collections. In 1973 they donated their collection, which transcended traditional barriers between art, architecture, archaeology and anthropology, to the UEA, and created an entirely new type of museum. Housed in Sir Norman Foster’s revolutionary first ever public building, the space aimed for an interactive relationship between people, object and landscape, where art was placed within an open yet intimate ‘living area’.
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery
At the very heart of its community, South Shields Museum & Art Gallery celebrates the rich heritage of South Tyneside and the people who shaped it. The museum is spread over two floors telling the story of the borough's social, industrial and maritime history from 4,000 years ago to the present day through a range of displays, exhibitions and nationally significant works of art.
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery is part of North East Museums (formerly Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums) which is a regional museum, art gallery and archives service.
They manage nine museums and galleries across Tyneside and the Archives for Tyne and Wear, attracting around 1 million visits a year. They run these venues and services on behalf of the local authorities of Gateshead, Newcastle, North and South Tyneside, and Newcastle University.
They are partially funded by these partners and also by Arts Council England (as a National Portfolio Organisation). The rest of their income is generated through commercial enterprises including shops, cafes and venue hire, and via fundraising.
From 1 April 2025 Northumberland County Council will join the partnership, and they will manage Woodhorn Museum, Hexham Old Gaol and Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum on its behalf. They care for over 1.1 million objects - many of international importance - in archives, art, science and technology, archaeology, military and social history, fashion and natural sciences.
Their award-winning formal and informal learning activities focus on natural history, local heritage, art, science, technology, engineering and maths, and inspire over 100,000 children and young people each year.
They work with partners to engage local communities, offering creative activities inspired by their collections to help them to improve their health and wellbeing.
Grundy Art Gallery
Grundy Art Gallery is a beacon for contemporary art in the Northwest with a growing national and international profile. It is owned and operated by Blackpool Council and offers visitors FREE access to a year-round programme of ambitious contemporary art exhibitions and events. This activity, along with its award-winning learning and engagement programme is developed and presented in collaboration with a wide range of local, national and international partners. The gallery, which is housed in a Grade II listed Carnegie building, is an Accredited Museum and an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation. It has ambitious plans for the future, with a new extension project in the planning, and a key role in the delivery of Blackpool’s first Cultural Strategy. The Grundy Art Gallery was opened in 1911 following a bequest by brothers John and Cuthbert Grundy who also gifted several artworks to provide the foundation of the Grundy’s collection. Today the collection includes over 2000 items including works by established artists such as Chila Kumari Singh Burman MBE, Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Gilbert and George, Lubaina Himid CBE, Tony Heaton OBE, Augustus John, Haroon Mirza, Eric Ravilious and Mark Titchner; alongside works by regionally based emerging and mid-career talent such as Louise Giovanelli, Rachel Goodyear and Garth Gratrix.
Ferens Art Gallery
The Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, has a magnificent collection of paintings and sculptures, including works by European Old Masters, portraiture, marine painting, and modern and contemporary British art.
Highlights include artworks by Pietro Lorenzetti, Frans Hals, Antonio Canaletto, Rosa Bonheur, Frederic Lord Leighton, Stanley Spencer, Bridget Riley and Gillian Wearing.
Gifted to the city by local philanthropist Thomas Robinson Ferens in 1927, the gallery and its collection is a jewel in Hull’s civic crown. Today the Ferens’ free public programme of exhibitions and events brings ambitious masterpieces to Hull, while working with the community and artists to tell the stories of its collection and nurture creativity in the region.
About The Hiscox Group
Hiscox is a global specialist insurer, headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). Our ambition is to be a respected specialist insurer with a diverse portfolio by product and geography. We believe that building balance between catastrophe-exposed business and less volatile local specialty business gives us opportunities for profitable growth throughout the insurance cycle.
The Hiscox Group employs over 3,000 people in 14 countries and has customers worldwide. Through the retail businesses in the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA, we offer a range of specialist insurance products in commercial and personal lines. Internationally traded, bigger ticket business and reinsurance is underwritten through Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Re & ILS. Our values define our business, with a focus on people, courage, ownership and integrity. We pride ourselves on being true to our word and our award-winning claims service is testament to that. For more information, visit hiscoxgroup.com.
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