Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum — Attraction in England

Russel Cotes Art Gallery & Museum is the one place you cannot miss if you're visiting Bournemouth or the surrounding areas! As soon as you enter the gardens leading to the house, you feel you're stepping out of this day-and-age life and into a different world. This majestic house on top of a cliff, facing the blue ocean and standing with its extraordinary character, is, in fact, full of a lovingly feeling of home, where you can feel the passion their founders had for beauty, art and world culture. You can almost feel you're going to bump into both of them there, and the extraordinary decor of all the house takes you away to their place in time. Every inch of this beautiful building is filled with gorgeous paintings, statues, ceramics and artefacts - some unique in the world, like a piece of Lava from an active volcano in Hawaii, with a fantastic story behind it. Merton and Anne Russel Cotes travelled the world to add to their collections and privileged the local and national artists, giving them a platform to display their art. Knowing that not everyone had the privilege to travel and see art throughout their lives, they decided to give back to the town of Bournemouth their whole house and collections so every person could have access to culture and art. The fantastic views of the sea and the bay, from where their rooms were, will take you to a place in your mind of how peaceful life can present itself, surrounded by such beauty. We have visited more than once, now, coming to Bournemouth with the unique purpose to re-visit the Museum. There's something for everyone, and some would say you can see all of it in about an hour and a half. That was not at all for us. We stayed for four hours, not even realising the time flew. The art gallery on the ground floor is rich and intense, with superb Edwin Long oil paintings that will make you travel to his scenes, with detail and expressions jumping from the canvas as soon as you look at them. Other beautiful paintings with an extensive range of genres and representations, with fabulous pieces of chiaroscuro, are also on display, like the "Going to Church, A Dutch Peasant" by Therese Schwartze. Don't forget to look up! Beautiful skylights and ceiling frescos will delight you. At this last visit, we were grateful to see the recent renovations enhance this place's magic. We were fortunate to see the Hidden Highlights Life in Lockdown exhibition: a fantastic show of an array of paintings with these delightful comments connecting them to our real-life events from the pandemic, making them so poignant but hilarious as well. This was the best idea ever! If you're lucky, you'll have a volunteer pianist or guitarist playing whilst you visit, as we had, both visits, the atmosphere gets so more magical! Also very important to say is that Staff and Volunteers are lovely and kin to engage with some stories from the house and the Russel Cotes. They are so knowledgeable, and they will enrich your visit...

Lovely Art Gallery and Museum! Since the building it self is such an historic place with well preserved interior there's beauty and art in every corner as well as being loaded with history. Throughout our visit there were also live music being played that really made you feel like you were taken back in time. Highly recommend a visit!

Had a good system in regards to covid safety with max amount of people allowed inside at the same time, and marked walking routes through the Art Gallery and Museum. Plenty of disinfectant available, staff wearing protective gear and showing good understanding of social distancing. Felt very safe while visiting!

There's a lovely cafe on the inside that serves drinks and some snacks to eat. A bit pricey but good quality products and kind staff. It was nice to have a seat after enjoying the exhibitions while having a drink. There's few vegan bits but for a drink you will be fine.

The Art Gallery and Museum is accessible with wheelchair and close to road and parking if you can't walk long distances. They have elevators inside for guests to get to the different floors. I didn't take any of the elevators myself but judging by the doors on some they seemed quite small and might just about fit the very large wheelchairs. All of the exhibition rooms have space for turning a wheelchair and with all items displayed in such a way that it is easy to view and enjoy the exhibitions. In some of the parts of the exhibition there isn't much seating available so if you need to sit and rest frequently you might want to bring some aid. They had audio guides, however that wasn't available while we were there but I can imagine this being an excellent option when available. Especially if hard of seeing.

The gift shop had so many beautiful postcards and gifts if you want to buy a forever memory. You can also buy prints of some of the paintings and artworks from the Art Gallery and Museum in larger sizes.

It was an quiet and calm atmosphere which works well if sensitive to noise or not liking buzzing places. I would have loved to bring my grandmother here! Might be careful bringing small children as there's quite a few breakable items, but think the history and art would be good for older children to engage with.

Well worth...

An absolute gem of a museum and gallery right above Bournemouth beach. The original building on its own is truly impressive with a feel of Art Nouveux and Fin de Siecle. The story of the creators of the house and collections (Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes) is worth watching in a video displayed on the first floor before going up to the main house and the galleries which were added later, after which the Russell-Cotes bequeathed the whole museum to the town of Bournemouth. The museum houses a permanent collection of art and items in the large and impressive rooms of the house. The views over the beach are quite stunning with the occasional chair and chaise longue from which the visitor is invited to sit and enjoy. Currently (May 2024) there is an excellent exhibition of Impressionist works by Albert de Belleroche. Nice cafe and garden, don't leave it too late if you want to sit outside as they remove chairs and tables at 4. Royal Bath Hotel has outside seating next door and is open after museum cafe closes. Coffee not great ! No on site parking but Bath Road South car park is less than 5 minutes walk with others only a bit further. These car parks aren't cheap but this museum is an absolute delight, thoroughly enjoyed our visit,...