Birmingham’s Gas Hall to reopen for pre-Raphaelite exhibition

Birmingham’s collection of Pre-Raphaelite art will return to the city for a special homecoming exhibition next year to mark the gradual reopening of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. 

The museum will open its Gas Hall exhibition space on 10 February 2024 to display the Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Craft Movement exhibition. It will be the first time the collection has been shown in the city since it embarked on a tour of US museums in 2018.  

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has been partially closed since March 2020 due to essential maintenance works, but is planning a phased reopening ahead of next year's summer holidays. Its reopening is a highly anticipated event; around 400,000 people visited the museum's temporary exhibitions during the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 

Victorian Radicals will explore the story of Britain’s first modern art movement, which revolutionised visual arts through its musings on nature and beauty in an age of industry. It will highlight Birmingham’s historic importance as a centre for artistic innovation during the 20th century. 

Three generations of British artists will be exhibited featuring figures spanning from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to the Arts and Crafts movement. This will emphasise the work of painters like William Morris and Kate Bunce who raised the city’s profile as an artistic hub.

With more than 160 works on display, it will show an array of mediums including drawings, jewellery, and metalwork.  

Victoria Osborne, the curator of fine art at Birmingham Museums Trust, said: “The Victorian Radicals believed that art and creativity could change the world and be a real force for good in society. The questions they explored in their lives and work are as relevant today as they were 150 years ago.”

Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, co-CEOs of Birmingham Museums Trust said: “Birmingham has missed its radicals, and it has missed its museum too. By starting to reopen next year, we start a new chapter.”

The Gas Hall will also introduce conference and networking events.

Planned maintenance work continues in other areas of the museum but several other gallery spaces will re-open ahead of summer 2024.

Civic rooms will be reopened in phases, given the constraint of resources, with the aim of prioritising the re-introduction of learning programmes for the community. The return of these spaces will generate income for the museum through admission charges, gift shop revenue and events. 

The museum remains committed to accessibility, with children visiting free-of-charge, open concession tickets, and allocation of free tickets for the Community Welcome Pass Scheme. 

Victorian Radicals is organised by Birmingham Museums Trust in partnership with the American Federation of Arts, which coordinated its tour in the United States.

The show, which was the largest touring exhibition staged from Birmingham’s collection, reached 168,000 visitors and won a Global Fine Arts award.