Hepworth Wakefield

The Hepworth Wakefield is an art museum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. Situated on the south side of the River Calder, the institution takes its name from the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who was born and educated in the city. It serves as the successor to the municipal Wakefield Art Gallery, subsuming its historic collection while establishing itself as a major center for modern and contemporary art. The gallery has quickly become a significant cultural presence, welcoming over 500,000 visitors in its first year and earning the United Kingdom's Museum of the Year award in 2017.

The institution traces its origins to the Wakefield Art Gallery, a municipal collection founded in 1923. In 2011, this legacy was subsumed into the newly built Hepworth Wakefield. The gallery launched the biennial Hepworth Prize for Sculpture in October 2015 to mark its fifth anniversary, a £30,000 award subsequently given to Helen Marten in 2016 and Cerith Wyn Evans in 2018. The museum reached a milestone of one million visitors by the end of 2013. In 2016, former BBC news writer and art collector Tim Sayer bequeathed his collection of more than 400 works to the gallery, an act of philanthropy for which he was made an MBE in 2017.

The museum provides 1,600 square metres of purpose-built gallery space. Its holdings combine the historical Wakefield Art Gallery collection, which spans from the 16th century to the present day, with a strong emphasis on 20th-century British art. The gallery is a partner of Plus Tate, a project that facilitates access to the national collection of British and international modern and contemporary art through exchanges with other institutions. Contemporary collecting remains active, with a 2024 acquisition of work by Nour Jaouda.

A centerpiece of the collection is the gift of 44 plaster and aluminum working models donated by the Hepworth Estate and family. The broader historical collection includes works by Henry Moore, a native of Castleford in the Wakefield district, alongside pieces by Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash, Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert, Anthony Caro, Ivon Hitchens, L.S. Lowry, and David Hockney. The Tim Sayer Bequest augmented these holdings with over 400 works by artists including Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Moore, Alexander Calder, and Bridget Riley. In 2025, the gallery and the Art Fund raised £3.8 million to acquire Hepworth's Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943), which had been placed under a temporary export bar after selling for £3.5 million at Christie's.

Designed by British architect David Chipperfield, who won a RIBA-managed competition, the building was constructed by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of £35 million. The structure sits on a headland at the southern gateway to the city, with water on two sides. It is composed of ten trapezoidal blocks of different sizes, which form the gallery rooms. The upper-level galleries rely on natural light from large windows in pitched roofs, offering views of the river, historic waterfront, and the Yorkshire hills. The facade is clad in self-compacting pigmented concrete, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, chosen to emphasize the building's sculptural appearance and echo the grey of the old industrial city. Ground-floor facilities include a cafe overlooking the river, a learning studio, a 100-seat auditorium, and a shop. The brutalist design has not been universally popular with local residents. The building was named Regional Building of the Year for 2012 by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The Hepworth Wakefield is located in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, on the south side of the River Calder. It operates as a registered charity under English law. Funding for its construction was provided by Wakefield Council, Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire Forward, the Homes and Communities Agency, the European Regional Development Fund, and various charitable trusts, corporations, and private individuals. The gallery is open to the public, continuing its role as a major regional venue for art and education.