Art Fund

The Art Fund is a national charity set up to support museums and galleries, lead public appeals and help them to buy and display works of art. The funding it provides is also used for training and development.

It has existed for over 110 years and members can use the fund’s National Art Pass to gain cheaper admission at many museums and galleries across the country.


Angelo Campanella print

Art Fund and Arts Council England launch initiative to encourage art donations

05 December 2023

A new publication by Art Fund and Arts Council England seeks to raise awareness about how owners of art and antiques can donate to institutions.

Tapestry

Fundraising boost to save Henry VIII’s lost tapestry

28 October 2023

A previously lost tapestry, commissioned by Henry VIII during the turmoil of the English Reformation, is a step closer to returning to the UK.

Joseph Wright of Derby Self Portrait

Art Fund helps museums to buy 900 items in 2022 with £4.5m of funding

22 June 2023

The Art Fund’s latest annual review revealed it had helped support acquisitions of more than 900 objects and works of art for museums in 2022.

Chinese jardiniere

Walpole’s cat-killing fish bowl returns to Strawberry Hill

24 October 2022

A Chinese jardiniere once used as a fish bowl by Horace Walpole (1717-97) is to return to his Strawberry Hill home.

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Museums make 300 new purchases thanks to Art Fund

27 June 2022

Close to 300 objects and works of art found permanent homes in UK museums and galleries thanks to contributions from the Art Fund charity, a new report reveals.

Hogarth's Walpole

Public appeal saves Hogarth portrait of Horace Walpole for his home Strawberry Hill

16 April 2022

The funds necessary to keep a portrait of Horace Walpole on display at his former home Strawberry Hill have been raised following a public appeal.

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Record-breaking Martin Brothers grinning crab saved for nation heads to Plymouth after export block

19 February 2020

A new museum in Plymouth has acquired a ‘colossal and extraordinary grotesque grinning crab’ by the Martin Brothers after fundraising to keep the sculpture in the UK.

Art Fund awards boost collecting cash at museums

12 August 2019

A curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York and an assistant curator of ceramics at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are among the winners of the Art Fund’s latest annual New Collecting Awards.

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William Morris Gallery launches Bauhaus exhibition fundraising campaign

08 August 2019

An exhibition exploring links between William Morris and Bauhaus, two of the most important names in the last 150 years of design, is set to launch in London provided enough money is raised.

Museum curators win funding to bolster collections including antique coins, ceramics and works on paper

07 August 2019

A curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York and an assistant curator of ceramics at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are among the winners of theArt Fund’s latest annual New Collecting Awards.

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Pictures by St Ives artist Peter Lanyon head to Tate, Birmingham and Liverpool museums

31 July 2019

The estate of Cornish artist Peter Lanyon’s (1918-64) widow, Sheila Lanyon, has agreed a tax deal allowing three pictures by the artist to be acquired by the nation for museums across the country.

The Wollaston Family Hogarth.jpg

Hogarth painting saved for the nation and can stay at its Leicester museum home

31 May 2019

A William Hogarth (1697-1764) painting that has been on loan to the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery in Leicester since 1943 has been purchased for the gallery.

Joseph Gott’s Greyhound with Puppies

Birmingham gallery acquires marble sculpture with support from Tomasso Brothers

02 May 2019

UK dealership Tomasso Brothers Fine Art has helped a Birmingham gallery to acquire a 19th century sculpture by the ‘Landseer of marble’.

Dalí lamps

Salvador Dalí’s surrealist ‘champagne’ lamps designed for West Sussex home bought by V&A Museum

19 March 2019

A pair of ‘champagne’ lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí has been bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum and will be reunited with Dalí’s Mae West Lips sofa.

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Art Fund celebrates record year as it seeks to boost annual giving to £10m

31 May 2018

A record-breaking year for Art Fund, including the purchase of £5.5m of art, is a ‘step in the right direction’ as the national charity seeks to increase its annual grant giving to £10m.

Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I saved for the nation with the help of 8000 donors

29 July 2016

The triumphal portrait of Elizabeth I has become public property with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and £1.5m pounds raised in public donations.

St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child is attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder

Bowes Museum acquires Old Master with help from Art Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund

26 July 2016

The Bowes Museum has secured funding at a sum of nearly £2.3m to keep an exit-barred painting attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder in the UK.

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New blacklist threat for deaccessioning museums

09 April 2015

A fresh warning has gone out to UK museums and galleries that they could face future funding cuts if they sell items from their collections.

V&A deal secures future of Wedgwood archive

15 December 2014

A series of deals to safeguard the future of the Wedgwood Collection and ensure it will continue to be displayed in the Potteries have now been completed.

Wedgwood archive saved as appeal hits £2.74m target

03 October 2014

It has taken just over a month for the Art Fund’s £2.74m appeal to save the Wedgwood Collection to reach its target. It will now be gifted to the V&A but will stay in situ at the Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston, near Stoke.

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