A new exhibition at the Wallace Collection sheds light on Winston Churchill’s artistic practice, which he used as both a therapeutic balm and a tool of soft power during his political career. The display features a rare self-portrait from 1915, where Churchill is depicted with a fuller head of hair and a trimmer figure, yet with the unmistakable pugnacious jaw that defined his public image.
Churchill’s Artistic Journey
Churchill took up painting at the age of 40 in 1915, encouraged by his sister-in-law during a period of political exile following the Gallipoli campaign in World War I. He was instructed by his friend Sir John Lavery and later sought guidance from William Nicholson and Walter Sickert. His early works include interiors and still lifes at Blenheim Palace and landscapes at Chartwell, his country home. Over time, his style became bolder, influenced by his travels to Italy, France, and Morocco.
Churchill wrote about the pleasures and challenges of painting in essays collected as Painting as a Pastime (1948). Despite his modesty, referring to his works as “daubs,” he submitted them pseudonymously to a Paris gallery in 1921 and to the Royal Academy in 1947.
The Diplomatic Power of Art
One of the highlights of the exhibition is The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, the only painting Churchill created during his first stint as prime minister in World War II. He gifted it to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to commemorate the Casablanca Conference. The painting later sold at Christie’s in 2021 for £8.28 million, a record for a Churchill artwork. Xavier Bray, director of the Wallace Collection, conceived the exhibition after visiting Churchill’s studio at Chartwell during the pandemic, where he was struck by the vibrancy of the works.
Bray notes that Churchill’s connection to the Wallace Collection is tenuous, but the exhibition presents 60 of his approximately 600 known paintings. “He holds up as an artist very well,” Bray says. “I’ve shown him at his best. The bad ones are bad, but interestingly bad.”
Art as Therapy and Legacy
Philip Mould, an art dealer and broadcaster, sees the exhibition as a long-overdue recognition of Churchill’s artistic seriousness. “Celebrity of the individual is often part of how artists are valued,” Mould says. He adds that Churchill used art to alleviate the pressures of leadership and his tendency to depression. “Without him having the benefits that art gave him, the Nazi peril may well have prevailed.”
Churchill’s art also served as a tool of soft power, with paintings gifted to allies and political friends. After losing office in 1945, he used his painting to promote a peaceful image, emphasizing that the arts could flourish under his leadership. The exhibition underscores Churchill as a polymath—politician, writer, and artist—a model later emulated by Boris Johnson.
Winston Churchill: The Painter runs at the Wallace Collection from 23 May to 29 November.
