Winter Light: Colour and Culture Across Sussex

As the seasons shift and Sussex’s skies turn steely, it’s the perfect time to step indoors and explore themes of memory, identity and transformation across the county’s galleries. From East to West Sussex, a rich programme of exhibitions showcases work by both historic and contemporary local artists, alongside compelling contributions from international names.

Betty Parsons: Sheer Energy

Betty Parsons (1900–1982) produced a bold, expressive body of paintings and sculptures over five decades. Sheer Energy is the first institutional survey of her work in Europe, spanning from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Best known as a pioneering New York gallerist who shaped twentieth-century American art, Parsons also maintained a committed studio practice at her Long Island home.

Presented across both Pavilion galleries at the De La War Pavilion, the exhibition follows a loose chronology, revealing the cycles and layers central to her work. De La Warr Pavilion until 18 January 2026.

Tschabalala Self: Seated

Through a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, printmaking, sculpture and collage, Self explores diverse artistic traditions with a focus on Black and femme bodies. Her powerful, character-driven figures—often inspired by fleeting encounters—reflect on identity, race and gender, and what it means to flourish in contemporary life.

Seated, installed on the De La Warr Pavilion’s lawn facing the sea, evokes rest, reflection and leisure in harmony with its coastal setting. De La Warr Pavilion until 18 January 2026.

The Ravilious Collection

Towner Eastbourne has long been the custodian of the largest collection of works by Eric Ravilious (1903–1942). This autumn, it has expanded its extensive work and research into Ravilious and his contemporaries by dedicating a new, permanent space. A must-see for fans and newcomers alike, the display highlights the much-loved artist’s contributions to the art world. Entry is free, but booking in advance is strongly encouraged, as the exhibition has proven very popular since opening in September 2025. Towner Eastbourne, exhibition ongoing.

Impressions in Watercolour: J.M.W. Turner and his Contemporaries

This year marks 250 years since the birth of J.M.W. Turner, celebrated English painter and master of watercolour. To honour his legacy, Towner presents Impressions in Watercolour – a rare chance to view some of Turner’s finest works from a private collection.

Showcasing his most experimental landscapes and seascapes, the exhibition places Turner alongside notable contemporaries such as Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman, highlighting the dynamic evolution of watercolour painting in the 19th century.

Additional works from Towner’s own collection will also feature. Towner Eastbourne, until 12 April 2026.

Dana Awartani: Standing by the Ruins

Dana Awartani, a Palestinian-Saudi artist based between New York and Jeddah, explores the loss of cultural heritage through abandoned and vanishing places in her multidisciplinary practice.

Standing by the Ruins, named after an ongoing series of floor installations and paintings, centres on three moments: remembrance, healing and forgetting. Each work reflects a shifting relationship with absence and presence, rooted in a process Awartani sees as equally about making as the final result. Towner Eastbourne, opens 29 Nov 2025 until 25 Jan 2026.

It Takes a Village

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is celebrating its 40th year with It Takes a Village – an invitation to explore its remarkable collection of over 20,000 art and craft objects.

Created with input from more than 50 contributors, the exhibition brings together rarely seen discoveries and well-known works by craftspeople including Ethel Mairet, Joseph Cribb, David Jones and Amy Sawyer.

More than an exhibition, it’s a call to participate. Local residents are invited to contribute their own piece of history to the museum’s Wunderkammer, helping to build a growing, community-sourced collection. These contributions will be mapped across Ditchling on a specially designed illustration by Neil Gower, creating a living record of the village’s creative legacy. Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft until 15 Mar 2026.

Sophie Barber: Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, never long wet, never long dry

Hastings Contemporary presents Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, never long wet, never long dry – a solo exhibition by British artist Sophie Barber (b.1996), held in the town where she lives and works.

Bringing together the local and the legendary, past and present, the exhibition highlights Barber’s experimental approach to painting as a means of connecting with place, history, and the things that matter. Hastings Contemporary, until 15 April 2026.

Michael Landy: LOOK

Michael Landy is best known for his large-scale installations and participatory works, but this exhibition highlights his skill as a draftsman, offering a quieter, more intimate view of the world around him.

In LOOK, Landy presents deeply personal drawings reflecting on his experience of testicular cancer and his father’s tunnelling accident. Through close observation and focus, the works explore memory, vulnerability and family relationships. Hastings Contemporary, until 15 April 2026.

Isabel Rock: Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold

Also on view at Hastings Contemporary, this exhibition presents the work of artist and climate activist Isabel Rock, who imagines a post-human world populated by mutant hybrid species – giant slugs, feral rats, colossal pigs and multi-limbed crocodiles – who inherit the ruins of civilisation.

Through large-scale, colourful drawings, printmaking, sculpture and short stories, Rock transforms dystopian visions into vivid, provocative scenes. Her recent experience in prison, following involvement in Just Stop Oil protests, informs key aspects of the exhibition. During a month-long stay at HMP Bronzefield, she used drawing as a vital outlet, sketching her surroundings with salvaged materials such as opened-out envelopes and precious biros. This act of creative defiance underpins the exhibition’s themes of survival, adaptation and connection. Hastings Contemporary, until 15 April 2026.

Roger Fry

The first major exhibition in over 25 years dedicated to Roger Fry as a painter unveils a lesser-known side of one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British art. Best known as an art critic, writer and curator, Fry played a pivotal role in introducing post-impressionism to England.

Featuring vibrant portraits, landscapes and interiors from his time in 1920s Paris, the exhibition brings together rarely seen works from private collections alongside national treasures. It highlights Fry’s bold use of colour and his theory of formalism – the belief that a work’s impact lies in its arrangement of lines, colours and shapes, rather than its subject or narrative. Charleston in Firle until 15 March 2026.

Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artist, Lovers, Outsiders

Explore the lives and work of the ‘Two Roberts’ – Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, Ayrshire-born artists who met at Glasgow School of Art in 1933. Lovers and creative partners, they played a pivotal role in mid-20th century British art, influencing contemporaries such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and John Minton.

This exhibition – their first in England since 1962 – charts their remarkable journey from 1930s Glasgow through wartime Europe and Blitz-era London, culminating in tragedy. It traces their rise and fall, restoring them to the heart of a dynamic and rapidly changing creative landscape. Charleston in Lewes until 12 April 2026.

Trackie McLeod: Soft Play

Explore the work of Glasgow-based artist Trackie McLeod (b.1993), where humour, nostalgia and everyday culture collide.

Drawing on the streets, parks and community spaces of the West of Scotland, McLeod reimagines the visual language of 90s and 00s pop culture. Sportswear, branded accessories, music references, print and found objects are reassembled through a playful yet critical lens, capturing the grit, humour and raw energy of youth.

Blending accessibility with precision, his work resonates with those who recognise its references and invites new audiences in. Charleston in Lewes until 12 April 2026.

Jane Bown: Play Shadow

Play Shadow offers an intimate portrait of Jane Bown (1925–2014), one of Britain’s most revered photographers, whose quietly powerful black-and-white portraits have become iconic within twentieth-century photography.

The exhibition moves beyond the familiar public image of Bown’s work to reveal the personal vision and guiding philosophy behind her practice: a belief in simplicity, natural light, and the decisive presence of a good face. Newlands House Gallery, until 15 February 2026.

The 20/20 Portfolio

This exhibition introduces The 20/20 Portfolio, a major new addition to the Pallant House Gallery collection that reimagines the nation’s art collections.

Commissioned by the Decolonising Arts Institute and supported by UAL, Arts Council England and the Freelands Foundation, the 20/20 project paired 20 emerging artists of colour with 20 UK public collections. Developed in response to calls for racial justice in the arts – heightened by the pandemic and Black Lives Matter – the artists undertook residencies that challenged how collections tell stories.

The resulting portfolio includes newly commissioned works, texts and a public programme, offering a collective snapshot of the artists’ creative processes and perspectives. Pallant House Gallery until 1 February 2026.

William Nicholson

This is the first major exhibition in over 20 years dedicated to celebrated artist William Nicholson (1872–1949).

Spanning his entire career, this landmark show reveals the full breadth of Nicholson’s artistic vision – from his iconic still lifes and insightful portraits to evocative landscapes, striking poster designs and whimsical book illustrations. Pallant House Gallery opening 22 Nov 2025 until 26 Apr 2026.

Caroline Walker: Mothering

This powerful exhibition explores the beauty, strength and often unseen labour of childcare. Celebrated for her luminous brushwork and moving portrayals of women’s lives, Walker transforms everyday acts of care into striking scenes.

From maternity wards to nurseries, her paintings reveal the tenderness, intensity and resilience of motherhood, and the unacknowledged work that shapes our society. Featuring highlights from the past five years alongside new pieces, the show includes lively pencil sketches, delicate ink studies, intimate panels and large-scale canvases. Walker’s use of light, colour and scale makes each work feel both universal and deeply personal. Pallant House Gallery opening 22 Nov 2025 until 26 Apr 2026.

From poetic photography to radical abstraction, Sussex’s cultural landscape this season is rich, reflective and deeply rooted in place. Whether you’re drawn to the coast or the Downs, galleries across the region offer a compelling mix of contemporary and historical work – making it the perfect destination to explore over the winter months.

Looking to stay a little longer? From cosy cottages to coastal retreats, find your perfect Sussex base in our curated accommodation selection.