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Winston Churchill, best known as Britain's wartime prime minister, is the subject of a new exhibition at London's Wallace Collection that places his lesser-known identity as a painter at the center.
Opening Saturday, the show is described as the most significant display of his paintings in more than 60 years, with over 50 canvases on view, many of which have rarely been seen in public.
Churchill took up painting during World War I, after resigning from government following the failed 1915 Dardanelles naval campaign.
Co-curator Lucy Davis told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that it was "a very difficult time in his life" when "he suddenly finds himself with all this unwanted leisure time." She added that he "discovered painting as a way of releasing the stress, the anguish that the situation had caused him."
The exhibition traces his development chronologically, beginning with his earliest works, produced under the guidance of renowned artist John Lavery.
The display then moves through canvases painted in the 1920s at Chartwell, the family home in the English countryside where Churchill spent much of his private life.
Largely self-taught and influenced by the painters he associated with, Churchill developed a particular interest in landscape work.
Trips to the south of France proved especially formative, producing canvases dominated by bright blues and ochre tones. Davis noted that Churchill "saw painting as a spur to travel" and "just loved the light and warmth and atmosphere."
A dedicated room within the exhibition explores works inspired by his visits to Morocco. Among them is 'The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque,' the only painting Churchill completed during World War II.
The canvas was given as a gift to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and, more recently, belonged to Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie.
The exhibition does not shy away from the contrast between Churchill's public role and his private practice as a painter. Davis observed that while Churchill was recognized for his wartime leadership and speeches, his canvases reveal what she described as "his joie de vivre, his witty side, his playful side."
During his lifetime, Churchill had exhibited paintings at various galleries, though always under an assumed name.
One canvas stands apart from the rest in its subject matter: "The Beach at Walmer," painted in 1938 as fears of war mounted across Europe.
It depicts a sandy stretch of coastline in southern England with bathers in the water, but a black cannon positioned in the foreground points toward the sea—a detail that adds an undercurrent of tension to an otherwise tranquil scene.
The exhibition closes with work from the postwar period. Following his defeat in the 1945 general election, Churchill returned to painting and continued the practice until his death in 1965. A selection of those later works was shown at the Royal Academy during his lifetime.
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