Lucy Wood on Gwen John
Talk Art
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament c/o Independent Talent
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
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Summary
@TalkArt continues with an in-depth interview on the work of GWEN JOHN with curator @Lucy.C.Wood to explore a major exhibition Gwen John: Strange Beauties at the National Museum Cardiff. Hosted by @RobertDiament.
This once-in-a-generation exhibition brings together over 200 oil paintings, drawings and watercolours from public and private collections across the world with rarely seen works on paper from the artist’s studio collection to celebrate her 150th birthday. Born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in 1876, Gwen John trained at the Slade School of Art in London and was one of the first British women to receive a formal art education. She later moved to Paris, where she became part of its vibrant artistic community, forging an independent path in a male-dominated art world.
Gwen John is one of Wales' most extraordinary artists. She saw the world differently — quietly, attentively, and with extraordinary depth. That difference shaped everything: her subjects, her method, her colours, her words, her work.
It is the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work in over forty years. It tells Gwen’s story — revealing new ways of seeing her life and art and celebrating an artist whose vision still feels strikingly modern today. This is an invitation — to see the world through Gwen’s eyes — to slow down, look closer and discover the wonder in her work. Unmissable — for both newcomers and devoted admirers alike.
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Lucy Wood is Senior Curator of Art at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. She is co-curator of Gwen John: Strange Beauties (2026) and co-editor of the accompanying monograph with Rachel Stratton, Yale Center for British Art.
Follow @MuseumWales
Visit: https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/12640/Gwen-John-Strange-Beauties/
#GwenJohn
Exhibition organised by Amgueddfa Cymru in partnership with National Galleries of Scotland, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Yale Center for British Art.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, wherever you are in the world. I am Robert |
| 0:07.7 | Diamant and this is Talk Art. Welcome to Talk Art. Today I am feeling emotionally intelligent |
| 0:15.7 | and that is both reference to today's guest who is here with us in person, a wonderful curator, who has |
| 0:22.1 | been working with a number of museums, including the National Museum in Cardiff, which currently |
| 0:27.6 | has the first iteration of an extraordinary new retrospective of Gwen John. It's called |
| 0:34.3 | Strange Beauties, and it will be touring around the world, which we'll find out about very soon. |
| 0:38.8 | But I used the word emotional intelligence because I was really trying to sum up why Gwen |
| 0:43.9 | John's paintings mean so much to me personally. |
| 0:46.3 | And I think it really is because they're not just portraits of women or of herself. |
| 0:51.0 | They really get into the psychology of what it was to be a woman in the time |
| 0:55.6 | when she was alive and also what it is to just be alive now, because I think her paintings |
| 1:00.2 | are just as relevant as they were when she made them. Now, in her lifetime, she wasn't necessarily |
| 1:05.0 | the most famous. Her brother was much more famous than her. And what I think is so brilliant |
| 1:09.9 | about this new exhibition is that it's celebrating the 150th |
| 1:14.0 | anniversary of her birth, but it also really focuses on her work and not all the biographical |
| 1:20.3 | elements that have always gone around the understanding of her work. |
| 1:24.0 | And it's really prioritizing also her works on paper. And I'm obsessed with her works on paper. |
| 1:29.3 | And I've actually learnt so much about her through those works, which we're now seeing |
| 1:34.5 | for the first time. |
| 1:35.7 | This show runs until June. |
| 1:37.3 | So I really recommend getting to Museum of Cardiff and seeing this show in person. |
| 1:42.4 | So I am very proud to welcome to Talk Art, the wonderful curator, |
... |
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