The Hepworth Wakefield will present the first major solo exhibition of Kira Freije's work in the UK. For the exhibition, Freije will create a new body of work comprising around 20 life-size figures which will be arranged in small groupings affecting a society in various states of action.

Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents

23 November 2024 - 21 April 2025. Exhibition entry is £14 / £12.50 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

Louise Giovanelli is a Manchester-based artist who is known for her large-scale paintings that capture short-lived and sensual moments using beautifully crafted textures and vivid colour. Giovanelli will be creating a new body of work for this solo exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield.

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Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes

23 November 2024 - 21 April 2025. Exhibition entry is £14 / £12.50 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

Forbidden Territories will mark 100 years of ‘Surrealism’, since its origins in 1924 with the publication of the ‘Surrealist Manifesto’ by the poet and critic André Breton. Surrealism has become one of the most influential artistic, intellectual and literary movements of the 20th Century, and continues to inspire artists working today.

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A Living Collection

10 February 2024 - 23 February 2025. Exhibition entry is £14 / £12.50 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

A Living Collection address contemporary issues, shift historic imbalances in Wakefield's are collection or enrich narratives explored by artists in shifting contexts. Artists on display include Jadé Fadojutimi, Jake Grewal, Lewis Hammond and Bronwyn Katz alongside sculptures by Barbara Hepworth.

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The Hepworth Family Gift / Hepworth At Work

On permanent display. Exhibition entry is £14 / £12.50 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

The Hepworth Family Gift consists of 44 full size, rarely seen working models - surviving prototypes in plaster and aluminium made in preparation for the works in bronze Hepworth executed from the mid-1950s to the end of her career.

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Still Lives

1 March 2024 - 23 February 2025. Exhibition entry is £14 / £12.50 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

This spring, The Hepworth Wakefield will explore the theme of still life in a new exhibition. Still Lives will display more than 70 works by over 50 artists across two galleries, illustrating the enduring nature of the still life genre throughout different moments in art history.

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Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels

Opening 8 March 2025. Exhibition entry is £13 / £11 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

A survey exhibition of one of Britain’s foremost ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch (b.1940). The exhibition will bring together over 100 works made between the 1970s and 2013 drawn largely from the artist’s own rarely-seen private collection. It will explore Fritsch’s extraordinary forms, techniques and influences across four decades of her career.

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Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures

17 May - 27 October 2025. Exhibition entry is £13 / £11 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

British artist Helen Chadwick (1953 – 1996) embraced the sensuous aspects of the natural world, breaking taboos of the ‘traditional’ or ‘beautiful’ in art history. This major retrospective will be the first in over 25 years, and will chart the development of Chadwick’s art from her renowned degree show piece In the Kitchen (1977) through to her Piss Flowers (1991–2).

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Caroline Walker: Mothering

17 May 2025 - 2 November 2025. Exhibition entry is £13 / £11 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

This exhibition will bring together works made over the past five years with new paintings Caroline Walker will make for the exhibition exploring themes of motherhood and early-years care.

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Kira Freije

November 2025 – May 2026. Exhibition entry is £13 / £11 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

The first major solo exhibition of Kira Freije’s (b. 1985, London) work in the UK. For the exhibition, Freije will create a new body of work comprising around 20 life-size figures which will be arranged in small groupings affecting a society in various states of action.

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Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto

November 2025 – May 2026. Exhibition entry is £13 / £11 / FREE for Members, Wakefield District residents and under 18s. Ticket includes entry to all our gallery spaces on the day of visit.

The artist and author Edmund de Waal (b.1954, Nottingham) has curated the first major exhibition of acclaimed Danish ceramicist Axel Salto (1889 – 1961), considered one of the greatest masters of 20th-century ceramic art.

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Showing: Exhibitions

Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents

Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes

A Living Collection

The Hepworth Family Gift / Hepworth At Work

Still Lives

Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels

Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures

Caroline Walker: Mothering

Kira Freije

Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto