Painting showing a white chalk horse on a green hillside, with the sea in the distance

Ancient Landscapes, Modern Times: Eric Ravilious and the Artists of the Chalk Downs

3 October 2026 – 10 January 2027

Included in general admission tickets
Suitable for all ages
Wheelchair accessible

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Ancient Landscapes, Modern Times explores for the first time the relationship between a group of modern British artists and the chalklands of southern England.

The stark, rolling forms of the Downs suited the simplicity of the modern aesthetic. At the same time, they offered a place where ancient history and modernity converged – amid a flurry of archaeological activity at sites including Avebury and Maiden Castle, the chalklands became a locus of modernity.

From William Nicholson’s move to West Sussex in 1910 to Paul Nash’s last paintings of Wittenham Clumps following the Second World War, the selection also includes John Nash, Eric Ravilious, Peggy Angus and Tirzah Garwood and focuses especially on the period between the wars.

With the growing political tensions of the 1930s, this modern engagement with an ancient landscape took on a symbolic power. Images of an ancient Britain evolved as the Downs both became symbols of wartime threat and resilience and the site of uncanny intrusions of the physical reality of war.