Britain in the World

Exhibition Website

May 11 2016 - Dec 31 2019


The third phase of an important multiyear building conservation project has been completed, and visitors can now experience not only a renewed masterpiece of modern architecture by Louis I. Kahn but also a freshly reimagined installation of the Center’s collections. More than five hundred works, largely the gift of the institution’s founder, Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class of 1929), are on display in the newly restored and reconfigured galleries on the second and fourth floors.

Tracing the growth of a native British school of artists, the installation reveals how frequently the story of art in Britain focuses on a narrative of international exchange. The new arrangement addresses the impact of immigration and travel on British art and culture across the centuries, and the role that the arts have played in the history of Britain’s imperial vision, exploring the ways in which the perception of the British Empire influenced how Britons saw themselves and others. The installation is organized chronologically, focused around a number of themes. 

More information about the exhibition is available on the museum website.


Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website
Image: John Frederick Lewis, On the Banks of the Nile, Upper Egypt, 1876, oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
  • British
  • George Stubbs
  • Joseph Wright
  • Joseph Mallord William Turner
  • John Constable
  • James McNeill Whistler
  • John Singer Sargent
  • Francis Bacon
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates