If you love history, culture and the French Riviera, you’ll love the fabulous exhibition currently on at The Wallace Collection in London. It’s simply titled “Winston Churchill: The Painter“, and offers a glimpse into a refreshingly different side to one of the 20th century’s greatest politicians.
This is the first major retrospective of Sir Winston Churchill’s paintings since he died in 1965, and while it features more than 50 of his artworks – from his beloved home in England, to sombre wartime scenes, Morocco and beyond – our favourite section was naturally, the French Riviera. This is where Churchill, like so many of the impressionist artists who inspired him, fell in love with the abundant light. In Cannes for instance, he would return at different times of the day, to observe the changing light and its effect over the harbour.
Churchill would head to the Alpes-Maritimes region to escape the British winter, visiting often.
He sometimes stayed at the former Provençal Hotel in Antibes Juan-les-Pins where he was renowned for reading the newspaper at breakfast each morning. One of his paintings in the exhibition is of the nearby Antibes port (now known as Port Vauban). Fort Carré and the little lighthouse remain today, but the coastline behind is now a lot more populated, and superyachts are now berthed beside sailing boats.
Churchill’s paintings in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
The statesman was also a regular guest at Coco Chanel’s La Pausa villa near Roquebrune village. Staying nearby, with friends and relatives, Churchill painted several scenes of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Two are featured here.
This first Cap-Martin painting is of La Dragonnière, a villa where Winston Churchill and his son Randolph stayed in 1937. It was owned by Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, proprietor of the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Daily News. The exhibition notes that “in this painting of its ancient olive grove, Churchill explores the fall of dappled light through the canopy of trees. In his expressive treatment of the twisted trunks and the stems of the irises, he pays homage to Vincent van Gogh, an artist he greatly admired.”
The second Cap-Martin painting below features Les Zoraïdes, a villa which belonged to Churchill’s friend Daisy Fellowes, wife of his cousin Reginald.
Churchill in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
He also enjoyed painting in Cap d’Ail and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, on the other side of Monaco.
In fact, in 2023, a statue by local British expat and artist, Paul Rafferty, was unveiled in Cap-Ferrat. It depicts Churchill at his easel painting the port and La Voile d’Or hotel. Churchill painted at least five views of the port, one of which is included in the exhibition.
Churchill’s artworks from Cap d’Ail
As early as 1921, Churchill painted La Mala at Cap d’Ail. Years later, at the age of 80, after he had resigned as Prime Minister on 5 April 1955, he returned to Cap d’Ail where he painted The Walled Garden at La Capponcina. This was Lord Beaverbrook’s villa at Cap d’Ail and Churchill painted it on several occasions.
Born in 1874, Churchill was famously the UK’s prime minister during the Second World War, and served as a Member of Parliament for over 60 years.
He also happened to be a passionate and rather prolific painter. Over 50 years, it’s estimated that he painted at least 500 paintings.
“In painting, he found respite from public pressures, and a lifelong source of joy,” says the Wallace Collection.
Churchill himself is quoted in the exhibition as having said: “Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end.”
He once told Tate Gallery Director Sir John Rothenstein that “if it weren’t for painting, I couldn’t live. I couldn’t bear the strain of things!”
One of Churchill’s favourite spots in the Alpes-Maritimes was a “quiet, wild spot” he discovered to his delight on the River Loup.
He would spend entire days painting here, and when asked to submit a painting to the Royal Academy in 1947, this is the painting he chose (below). He entered it under the pseudonym David Winter. A year later his true identity was revealed, and Churchill was acknowledged as the first PM to have exhibited at the Royal Academy and was elected Honorary Academician Extraordinary, according to the Wallace Collection website.
Were Churchill’s paintings exhibited during his lifetime?
Some of Churchill’s paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy during his lifetime, including the Antibes harbour scene mentioned above, and the painting featured at the top of this page (Cap d’Ail, Alpes-Maritimes, from La Capponcina, Oil on canvas, 1952). Churchill painted it during his second term as PM and submitted it in 1960 to the Royal Academy as his diploma work.
US President Eisenhower and Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, were early fans of Churchills’ painting and masterminded a touring exhibition of his work in North America.
Most of Churchill’s artworks were however painted “purely for the pleasure and challenge of the creative process”.
Some were also given to friends, family members or as diplomatic gifts. For instance, in 1948 he gave another version of the Antibes painting to the Australian prime minister of the time.
Churchill continued to paint until shortly before he passed away at 90 in January 1965.
Churchill’s French Riviera Paintings
Other paintings, apart from those above, from the south of France on display at the exhibition include Storm Scene, Avenue and Formal Pool at Saint-Georges-Motel, the Calanques near Marseilles, Sunset over the Sea – Orange and Purple, Château Saint-Georges-Motel, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. All are oil on canvas (or on panel), and mostly from 1930s. There’s also Calanques, near Marseille, painted in 1948, as well as others, including the dramatic rendering of the red cliffs in the 1950s of the Cap Roux, Saint-Raphaël on the French Riviera. See below.
EXHIBITION: Winston Churchill: The Painter
Dates: Saturday 23 May – Sunday 29 November 2026
Venue: Exhibition Galleries, The Wallace Collection, London
Audio: The audio guide includes curator commentary and features narrated by award-winning actor Sir Gary Oldman
Reservations: Book here
