The Courtauld has secured a further significant philanthropic commitment from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, taking the Foundation’s total support of the institution to £20 million and paving the way for the creation of two new galleries dedicated to contemporary art. The gallery is scheduled to open in 2029, it will form a key part of the Courtauld’s ambitious redevelopment of its Somerset House home into a new, integrated campus.
Support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation has become woven into the Courtauld’s recent story. As Lord Browne of Madingley, Chair of the Board of Trustees, has noted, Sir Leonard and Lady Emily Blavatnik have been instrumental in shaping the institution’s trajectory over the past decade. Their latest £10 million gift builds on earlier contributions, including the Blavatnik Fine Rooms, unveiled in 2021, and will also enable the long-envisioned Blavatnik Reading Room within the remodelled Courtauld library.
The new Blavatnik Contemporary Galleries will occupy the top floor of Somerset House’s North Wing, reclaiming an 18th-century space conceived initially as a display room for the Royal Society. With a dedicated public entrance opposite the main Gallery, visitors will have full access to the historic East Wing staircase while encountering a programme of exhibitions, commissions and live events by leading contemporary artists.
Exhibitions like Peter Doig, Claudette Johnson, and a major commission by Cecily Brown have launched the Courtauld’s move into contemporary art
Since reopening its Gallery in 2021 following a landmark redevelopment by Witherford Watson Mann — later recognised with the RIBA Stirling Prize — the Courtauld has steadily deepened its engagement with contemporary practice. Exhibitions devoted to Peter Doig and Claudette Johnson, a major commission by Cecily Brown, and the launch of an annual commission for the John Browne Entrance Hall have signalled a clear shift. Rachel Jones inaugurated that series in 2025, and the first European solo exhibition of New York–based painter Salman Toor is set to open in October 2026.
The forthcoming galleries will extend this momentum. Conceived as spaces for collaboration and experimentation, they will support new artistic projects while offering students in the Courtauld Institute’s MA in Curating a hands-on role in shaping and delivering the programme. The aim is to showcase contemporary art while placing living artists and current debates at the heart of the institution’s intellectual life.
These developments sit within the broader transformation of the Grade I-listed Somerset House complex into the new Courtauld Campus. Backed by the Reuben Foundation and other donors, and guided by a masterplan from Witherford Watson Mann in collaboration with Purcell and Lawson Ward Studio, the project will reunite the Gallery, teaching spaces and conservation studios under one roof, reinforcing the Courtauld’s standing as a global centre for the study and presentation of art.
Reflecting on the gift, Mark Hallett, Märit Rausing Director of the Courtauld, emphasised the importance of sustained philanthropic vision in enabling the institution to bring “the most exciting art of today” into dialogue with its renowned collection of historic works. Senior Curator Elena Crippa described the new galleries as “a site of possibilities”, where past and present can be actively reconnected and students fully engaged in the making of exhibitions.
For Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the commitment reflects a long-term belief in the Courtauld’s mission. After more than a decade of involvement, he described it as a privilege to help shape the Gallery’s future and expressed his hope for continued collaboration. Artist Sir Antony Gormley, meanwhile, welcomed the prospect of a new place “to look at, experience, and discuss the art of our time” within what he called a “lively intellectual context”.
The Blavatnik Contemporary Galleries at the Courtauld is making it clear that contemporary art is no longer an adjunct to its historic strengths, but a central strand in its evolving identity.