The ‘John Piper in the South Country‘ exhibition is running at Museum & Art Gallery Swindon from 4 July to 26 September 2026. Curated by Andrew Lambirth, this major touring exhibition marks the first time John Piper’s (1903–1992) dedicated artistic output in the south and south-west of England has been brought together for the public.


The Exhibition has Free entry. Opening Hours are: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:30am to 4:30pm

The exhibition tracks Piper’s stylistic evolution as a neo-Romantic artist while highlighting his profound emotional resonance with local historic architecture, stone monuments, and Wiltshire countryside landscapes. Notable pieces on display include:

  • Swindon’s Own Collection: Bolingbroke at Lydiard Tregoze (1940), on loan from the nearby Lydiard House Museum collection.
  • Neolithic Landscapes: Early collages and paintings of local ancient history sites, including the stone circles at Avebury and the great monument of Stonehenge.
  • Wiltshire and Dorset Architecture: Significant paintings capturing historic estates and villages such as Stourhead, Lacock, and Fonthill.
  • Ecclesiastical Studies: Depictions of local historic churches, stretching across the region from Inglesham to Knowlton and Britwell Salome.
  • Salisbury Plain and Beyond: Wartime landscape interpretations, studies of the Isle of Portland, and drawings of the Cerne Abbas Giant.


John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (13 December 1903 – 28 June 1992) was one of the most versatile and influential Modern British artists of the 20th century. Over a prolific seven-decade career, his work bridged international modernism with a deeply romantic, antiquarian devotion to the British landscape, historic architecture, and ancient monuments.