The Box Plymouth named Museum in Residence at Downing Street for 2026 with nine paintings displayed throughout year.
The Box Plymouth has been selected as Museum in Residence at Downing Street for 2026, with nine paintings from the museum to be displayed throughout the year.
The partnership with the Government Art Collection will see works from Plymouth’s collection introduced to world leaders, government officials and distinguished visitors. The paintings have been chosen for the stories they tell about British innovation, resilience and creativity through Plymouth’s lens.
The works include Henry Andrews Luscombe’s The Opening of the New Eddystone Lighthouse (1882) celebrating British maritime engineering, Alfred Wallis’s Two Masted Schooner, Ketch by the St Ives artist whose work influenced British modernism, Stanley Spencer’s Hoe Garden Nursery (1955), a rare Plymouth work by one of Britain’s most important 20th-century artists, and Charles Ginner’s Plymouth Pier from The Hoe (1923) by the Camden Town Group artist. Other paintings document industrial and urban transformation through works by Robert Borlase Smart, Jack Pickup and Reginald Brill.
Culture Minister Baroness Twycross said: “It is fantastic that through the Government Art Collection’s Museum in Residence partnership with The Box, artworks from Plymouth will be seen by world leaders, showcasing the breadth of talent that our nation has to offer.”
Victoria Pomery, CEO of The Box, said: “This is an extraordinary moment for Plymouth and The Box. To have highlights from our collections displayed at Number 10 recognises that Britain’s Ocean City has stories of genuine national significance. From the Eddystone Lighthouse a triumph of British engineering that made global maritime trade safer, to Stanley Spencer’s vision of post-war Britain, these works prove that Plymouth isn’t peripheral to British history; it’s been central to it.”
The Museum in Residence programme introduces government officials, diplomats and international visitors to collections rarely seen outside the Southwest. The appointment recognises Plymouth’s significance as the departure point for the Mayflower and Captain Cook’s voyages, and Britain’s principal naval base for over 400 years.
As part of the partnership, over 60 works from the Government Art Collection will be displayed at The Box from 20 June to 20 September 2026. The exhibition was shaped through conversations and workshops with teenagers and young adults from across Plymouth, and will feature works by artists including Alvaro Barrington, Barbara Hepworth and Alberta Whittle.
