More than 250 works from amateur and celebrated Welsh artists are on display at the National Library of Wales until September 2025. An infamous declaration that there is “no Welsh art” has been firmly rebutted by a groundbreaking exhibition at the country’s national library amid growing calls for a permanent national art gallery for Wales to be created.
![[A painting in muted tones of three women wearing long dresses and headscarves]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f0fe0f4de550e61ed593a146eaa666fde6007629/107_0_6683_8354/master/6683.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
More than 250 works from beloved Welsh painters such as Gwen John and Kyffin Williams have been hung alongside pieces by unknown and amateur artists at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth with the aim of telling the narrative of the nation through visual art – and debunking the “no art” myth.
![[A painting of a man in a blue jacket riding on the back of a brown goat]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0663d4ebcbbb304b0198ec09fd9d0baf97cc26e2/4_0_1784_2229/master/1784.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Peter Lord, an art historian, collector and curator of the exhibition, said the “no Welsh art” comment, made in 1950 by Llewelyn Wyn Griffith, the chair of the Welsh committee of the then Arts Council of Great Britain, reflected the received wisdom at the time. He said it was “absurd”, but the impact of the claim still lingered.
Lord began collecting Welsh art in the 1980s, sourcing pieces that told the story of Wales rather than only ones that might be considered high art. He said: “I created my collection because we don’t have a national gallery with a narrative of our own art history. It makes us pretty unique in Europe. Almost every country, even small nations, have a gallery of this kind.”.
