Watts Gallery

Watts Gallery - Dates for your diary

• Watts Gallery is introducing “pay if and what you can” days. Watts Gallery is a charity and we rely on our visitors, donors and members to keep our doors open for all. Please donate what you feel you are able to and support our mission of art for all by all. Admission is usually £18 for an adult.

  • This autumn, visitors to Limnerslease can see a decorative dinner service, created by nine artists at HMP Send, displayed until Sunday 30 November 2025. The women of HMP Send are serving prisoners who take part in weekly art workshops. Inspired by the Women of Our Time dinner service designed in the 1930s by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the new version imagines a range of contemporary guests that Mary Watts might invite to a dinner party. These imagined guests are shown by the artists through decorated ceramic plates at a table setting in Limnerslease.

  • Join professional artists Michael Gallone and Sarah Thien for an immersive two-day oil painting masterclass set against an evocative Autumnal theme. This workshop combines expert demonstrations with guided, hands-on painting as you create a complete oil painting from start to finish. Friday 10 and Saturday 11 October 2025, 10.30am to 4.30pm.

  • Watts Gallery is welcoming its youngest visitors back to Watts Tots, with fun-filled Friday mornings designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and connection. Held on the first Friday of each month, these playful and engaging sessions include sensory play, storytelling and hands-on making. Fridays 3 October, 7 November and 5 December 2025, from 10.30am to 11.45am.

  • Watts Contemporary Gallery’s exhibition of satirical cartoons by The Times newspaper’s very own Peter Brookes. Peter Brookes: Political Cartoonist of The Times, will be on display until Sunday 23 November.

  • Every Sunday, join our Watts ceramicist for Clay Club. As a family, get hands-on and messy with clay to wedge, carve, mould, roll, sculpt and create masterpieces. Themes will change fortnightly, inspired by Watts Gallery's rich heritage of pottery, current exhibitions and contemporary influence (as well as lots of fun and imagination). Sundays 5, 12, 19 and 26 October plus Thursday 30 October for a half-term workshop to make pumpkins, black cats, cauldrons and other Halloween-inspired creations.

  DON’T FORGET, COMPTON RESIDENTS GET 50% OFF ADMISSION! VALID WITH A PROOF OF ADDRESS.
  www.wattsgallery.org.uk.

Mary Watts was mentioned in BBC podcast You’re Dead To Me: The Arts and Crafts Movement: William Morris and his circle. The episode of the comedy-history podcast, hosted by Greg Jenner, is well worth a listen for anyone who wants to learn more about this movement and the artists at its forefront. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00274qh.

Nestled in the beautiful Surrey Hills, Watts Gallery first opened its doors to the public in 1904. It is unique in the UK being the only purpose-built art gallery created for the display of works by a single artist, the great Victorian artist G.F. Watts (1817-1904). Over one hundred paintings and sculptures are on permanent display; spanning a period of 70 years, they include portraits, landscapes and major symbolic works.

Perched on a hillside, overlooking the Gallery sits Limnerslease, the Autumn and Winter home and studio of G.F. and Mary Watts, originally built in the Arts & Crafts style. Limnerslease recently underwent a major restoration project. Don’t miss the chance to join a guided tour and glimpse the start of this nationally important project.

To this day, the legacy of G.F. and Mary Watts lives on, with artists working onsite and a contemporary gallery selling artwork by local and national artists. Watts Gallery also runs an extensive events programme for families, adults and young people, offering the opportunity to improve your art skills, attend a lecture, or meet one of the artists in residence.

George Frederic Watts 1817 - 1904