In 2025, the Wallace Collection will hold a major exhibition featuring over 40 new works by Sir Grayson Perry.
The largest contemporary exhibition ever held at the museum, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur will include ceramics, tapestries, furniture and collage, displayed alongside some of the Wallace Collection’s masterpieces which helped inspire and shape Perry’s vision for this landmark exhibition. The new works, each made in direct response to the Collection, incorporate a range of mixed media and styles that Perry has perfected over his long and acclaimed career. Reflecting the breadth and variety of the Wallace Collection, the artist has drawn upon the widest variety of techniques, genres and forms that he has ever employed for a single show.
Perry has a longstanding relationship with the treasures in Hertford House. Intrigued by the contrast of extreme femininity of the 18th century French Rococo with the overt masculinity of the arms and armour, the artist recalls being struck by this dichotomy as a young artist when seeing the Collection’s famous portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (1703-1770). Historically rigid gender roles have been a recurring subject throughout Perry’s decades-long career, and this exhibition will also reflect that theme.
Delusions of Grandeur will interrogate the very nature of craft-making and the drive for perfectionism. Intricate handcrafted objects will be shown alongside works made with digital technology – comparing an object that may have taken thousands of hours to create against one that was possible with the click of a button. Through these contrasting approaches, Perry will ask the viewer to contemplate questions concerning authenticity and the artist’s role in the future.
As part of this questioning, Delusions of Grandeur will also focus on ‘outsider art’ with the inclusion of works by Aloïse Corbaz and Madge Gill. Sparked by the discovery that Madge Gill (1882-1961) had exhibited at the Wallace Collection in 1942, the life and work of these outsider artists has helped unlock Perry’s own response, which also draws upon his own childhood experiences.
Opening on the artist’s 65th birthday, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur offers an elaborate commentary on the very nature of making and collecting art. Touching upon a variety of themes, including the creation of domestic space and how it engenders a sense of safety, the gendering of decoration, and perceived perfection versus authenticity, the exhibition will be a major moment for one the country's most respected artists.
Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur: 28 March - 26 October 2025
Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, W1U 3BN
Further Information: The Wallace Collection - The Wallace Collection