Abbot Hall Art Gallery

The Gallery is housed in one of Kendal's most important buildings, a Grade I listed villa, on the banks of the River Kent. The galleries offer two floors of light-filled spaces in which to see art.
 
Abbot Hall has a comprehensive collection of George Romney's work. His paintings are hung in the elegant historical settings for which they were painted, amongst fine 18th-century furniture and porcelain.

Watercolours are shown in a small gallery reminiscent of a collector's private room, where a Turner can be seen next to a Ruskin and a Constable sketch sits in a cabinet next to works by Cotman, Cozens and Edward Lear.

Abbot Hall has been one of the most active galleries collecting British art in recent years and important works have been acquired, ranging from a Turner watercolour of Windermere to portraits by Stanley Spencer and abstract paintings by Bridget Riley and Sean Scully. Abbot Hall has also secured some spectacular long-term loans, including works by Constable, L. S. Lowry and Lucian Freud.

As well as a fine permanent collection, Abbot Hall is acknowledged as having one of the most imaginative and independently minded temporary exhibition programmes outside London.

Picnic site nearby. Free admission to print exhibitions in Abbot Hall coffee shop.

Please visit the website for details on opening times.

Exhibitions
For exhibition and event information visit www.abbothall.org.uk

Abbot Hall Coffee Shop
At Abbot Hall art gallery you can relax in the coffee shop where an appetising menu of locally produced food is freshly prepared daily. You can view changing exhibitions of artists' prints with a cappuccino or a specialty tea. In summer tables are available outside near the banks of the river Kent and against the backdrop of the ruins of Kendal castle.