2027 EXHIBITION PROGRAMME - Press Release
TICKETED EXHIBITIONS
Renaissance Worlds: Art and the Senses
4 June–17 October 2027, The John Sainsbury Exhibition Galleries
What was it like to taste chocolate in Europe for the first time, marvel at iridescent images fashioned from hummingbird feathers from the Americas, hear drums made in Africa, smell incense and spices from the Middle East, and feel the textures of sumptuous silks and velvets inspired by Ottoman designs? Renaissance Worlds will explore how people experienced a multi-sensory and globally connected world between 1450 and 1650, a period of extraordinary artistic achievement and rapidly expanding horizons.
The mathematics that helped European artists master perspective drew on centuries of Arabic knowledge; the brilliant blue prized by both European and Mughal painters came from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan; while vivid reds were made from cochineal insects harvested in the Americas.
Bringing together works by Raphael, Dürer, Caravaggio and Sofonisba Anguissola with beautifully crafted musical instruments, splendid ceramics and lavish objects made of gold, ostrich eggs, and mother-of-pearl, this exhibition will offer visitors a tantalising glimpse of how the Renaissance looked, sounded, tasted and felt.
Anglo-Saxon England: Treasures, Trade and Travel
3 December 2027–23 April 2028, The John Sainsbury Exhibition Galleries
Forget the Dark Ages. New archaeological discoveries and scientific research are transforming our understanding of England after Rome. This exhibition will bring together spectacular jewellery, weapons and treasures from the centuries following the end of Roman rule to reveal a sophisticated society and a population more diverse and mobile than previously thought.
Anglo-Saxon England will explore the rise of the first royal courts, where lavish feasts, gift-giving and ornate weapons displayed wealth and power in the era of Sutton Hoo.
Highlights will include a warrior's helmet from Sweden, gold and garnet fittings from the Staffordshire Hoard, elaborate horse harnesses, colourful glass drinking vessels, board games and objects used in great feasts, alongside recent finds from royal settlements.
Women emerge as major figures in this story, from the daughters of leading families who forged dynastic alliances to the women who helped establish Christianity in England and governed some of England’s earliest and most important monasteries. The objects, coupled with the latest research, will introduce visitors to a new and vivid picture of Anglo-Saxon England.
FREE EXHIBITIONS AND DISPLAYS
Jain Art in India: Sacred Cosmography, Heavens and Hells
16 January–12 September 2027, Gallery 29
Jain Art in India explores the extraordinary universe of one of India’s oldest religions. Bringing together sculpture, paintings, sacred manuscripts and objects from the Ashmolean’s collections, some shown for the first time, this display examines Jain beliefs about the cosmos, karma, rebirth and the path to enlightenment. At its centre is the Jain vision of an eternal universe, with the human world between heavenly realms above and eight levels of hell below. Vivid paintings show the punishments awaiting wrongdoers, from demons wielding swords and maces to sinners tormented by snakes, peacocks, crabs and crows, while images of the Jinas, Jainism’s enlightened teachers, offer a path towards liberation.
21st-Century Ink
20 March–5 December 2027, Gallery 11
Ink painting has been at the heart of Chinese art for more than a thousand years, but contemporary artists continue to find radical new possibilities in this ancient medium. Bringing together the work of 20 leading artists, made since 2000, 21st-Century Ink will be the first exhibition to explore recent developments in Chinese ink art. From landscape and calligraphy to abstraction and experimental works that push ink beyond its traditional forms, the exhibition will include work by Xu Bing, Liu Dan, Wang Dongling and Wang Tiande, alongside recent acquisitions from the Ashmolean’s growing collection of contemporary Chinese art.
Ashmolean NOW: Hanaa Malallah
The Daffodils: Similarities of Opposites
17 July 2027–27 February 2028, Gallery 8
Iraqi-born artist Hanaa Malallah (b. 1958) takes the letters of British archaeologist, traveller and political administrator Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) as the starting point for a new body of work exploring two lives separated by a century. Bell travelled from Britain to Iraq, where she became an influential figure in the British colonial administration and acquired objects that she later gave to the Ashmolean. Malallah made the journey in reverse, leaving Iraq during years of war and conflict, eventually settling in Britain.
Through paintings, drawings, text and mixed-media works, Malallah responds directly to Bell’s letters from Baghdad, reflecting on their different experiences of Iraq and Britain, reframing the narrative through her own story. The exhibition brings her new work together with Bell’s letters and ancient Middle Eastern objects from the Ashmolean’s collections.
ENDS
Press images
Images for editorial use are available to download at: https://go.glam.ox.ac.uk/Ashmolean2027
Images above:
- Attributed to Polet Clouet (1486–1540)
Marguerite of Navarre (1492–1549), c. 1527
Oil on panel, 59.8 x 51.4 cm
Courtesy National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
- Helmet from Valsgärde boat grave 7
Gamla Uppsala, Sweden, 7th century
Iron, bronze, gilding, garnets and mineralised leather, h. 24 cm
Gustavianum Uppsala University Museum, Uppsala, Sweden
- Seated Jain Tirthankara North India, 19th century
Soapstone and alabaster, h 39 cm
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- He Sanqing (b. 1988)
Neither Mountain Nor Water No. 5, 2018
Woodblock on paper, 62 x 97 cm
© He Sanqing
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Hanaa Malallah (b. 1958)
The Daffodils: Similarities of Opposites, 2025
Oil on canvas, 110 cm x 96 cm
© Hanaa Malallah
Contact details
Claire Parris
Strategic Communications Manager, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries and Museums press.office@ashmus.ox.ac.uk | +44 (0)1865 278 178
