Henry Moore's Largest Outdoor Exhibition Opens at Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens in London is hosting 'Henry Moore: Monumental Nature', the largest outdoor exhibition ever dedicated to the British sculptor, running from May 9, 2026 to January 31, 2027. Organized with the Henry Moore Foundation, the show features 30 monumental installations spanning Moore's nearly seventy-year career, placed throughout the 130-hectare botanical garden. Curated by Sebastiano Barassi and Laura Bruni, the exhibition highlights Moore's exploration of the interaction between the human figure and the natural environment. Works include 'Large Interior Form' in perforated bronze, the nine-meter fiberglass 'Large Reclining Figure' near the Great Pagoda, 'Double Oval', 'Sheep Piece', 'Totem Head', and 'Working Model for Splinde Piece' inside the cactus greenhouse. Inside the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, 90 small-format works—sculptures, models, drawings, and notebooks—are displayed alongside botanical paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection. A parallel exhibition at Wakehurst in West Sussex, from June 5 to May 2027, presents four Moore sculptures alongside works by Rana Begum, Rafael Perez Evans, and Paloma Varga Weisz. A family-friendly interactive trail for children aged 5–12 is also offered. Additionally, the Richard Green Gallery in London hosts a small show of 14 sketches from the 1940s–1980s focusing on the female figure.