From 3 September 2026
The John Browne Entrance Hall and Ticketing Hall
Free display –Ìýno ticket required
Artist Ella WalkerÌý(b.1993, Manchester, UK)Ìýwill createÌýtwoÌýnew site-specific commissionsÌýforÌýthe Â鶹ÊÓƵ Gallery. Opening 3 September 2026, the new artworksÌýwill be presented in The John Browne Entrance HallÌýand the Ticketing HallÌýofÌýthe Â鶹ÊÓƵ Gallery and will be free to visit.
This is the second Â鶹ÊÓƵ Commission, a series of annual commissions by contemporary artists for the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Gallery, which launched in 2025 with new works by artist Rachel Jones.
Ella Walker creates monumental canvases that act like dream-like stages. They are dominated by female figures whose gestures and interactions are both familiar and confounding, eschewing expected behaviour and transcending fixed roles.
The new artworks continue the artist’s dialogue with traditional techniques and subjects from ³Ù³ó±ðÌýRenaissance period, richly represented at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Gallery. Walker isÌýparticularlyÌýdrawn to the Blavatnik Fine Rooms on the second floor of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, includingÌýThe Trinity with Saints Mary Magdalen and John the BaptistÌýaltarpiece (around 1491-94) by Sandro Botticelli (around 1445-1510).
Walker lives and works in London. She studied Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art and The Royal Drawing School. Recent solo exhibitions includeÌýIdolâtrie, Le Château – Centre for Contemporary Art and Heritage ofÌýAubenas, France (2025);ÌýThe Romance of the Rose, PilarÌýCorrias, London (2024);ÌýAfter great pain, a formal feeling comes, Casey Kaplan, New York (2024); andÌýChorus,ÌýKestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany (2023).
Since the transformation of its Gallery in 2021, theÌýÂ鶹ÊÓƵ has significantly expanded its offering of contemporaryÌýart, including major exhibitions by Peter Doig and Claudette Johnson, and a major commission by Cecily Brown. The first European solo exhibition of acclaimed New York painter Salman Toor will open on 2 October 2026.ÌýIn January,Ìýthe Courtauld also announced it will be creating two new galleries dedicated to contemporary art, set to open in 2029 as part of the development of its new world-class campus at Somerset HouseÌý
Â鶹ÊÓƵ Commission 2026: Ella Walker is free to visit. No ticket required.
