Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden — Attraction in St. Ives

Great place to visit and you can spend at least 2 hours over here. Full of sculptures and creation done by Barbara. This is a part of creative history of this place and you need to pay £ 7/- per head. However of under 19 people it is free of cost. They don't have clock rooms but the humble lady at reception gave us some place to keep few bags.

The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives, Cornwall preserves the 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth's studio and garden much as they were when she lived and worked there. She purchased the site in 1949 and lived and worked there for 26 years until her death in a fire on the premises in 1975.

The studio, known as Trewyn Studio, was purchased by Barbara Hepworth in 1949, and is typical of the stone-built houses in St Ives. Her living room is furnished as she left it, while the workshop remains full of her tools and equipment, materials, and part-worked pieces. The museum was opened by her family in 1976, after Barbara had left instructions to this effect in her will. It is the largest collection of her works that are on permanent display.

The sculptures featured at the museum (mainly in the secluded garden) were some of her favourites. Her workshop also includes a queue of uncut stones that one visitor has described as "still waiting for their moment in the shadow of her workshop". In 1950 she acquired two huge blocks of Galway limestone which she carved into her Festival of Britain commission, the Contrapuntal Forms. A set of photographs in the museum shows the progress of this project. Wood carving was done in an upstairs room, and the bronze statues she started casting in 1956 had their origins in the plaster prototypes she worked on in the upper of the two outside studios.

She was helped in the creation of the garden by her friend, the South African-born composer Priaulx Rainier.

Barbara Hepworth died in a fire at this site in 1975, which was caused by one of her cigarettes making some package burn, when she was aged 72.

The family passed the museum to the Tate gallery in 1980 and they...

Like the Tate St Ives, we have visited this museum and gardens on several occasions over the years since we were kids…and if you’re visiting one, you may as well visit them both!

Unlike the Tate St Ives with its ever changing artists, artwork, themes, and exhibitions, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden never changes. It is like an artist’s work stuck in time, and quite simply, always amazes.

This unassuming property is the gateway to a lush and serene secret garden, filled with beautiful vistas and an amazing collection of sculptures, located in the heart of St Ives. You could be forgiven for thinking the tranquil garden is miles away from the tourist ladden streets of the ever popular fishing town.

The home now turned museum is laid out with a fascinating timeline of photographs, letters, facts, events, and drawings, giving you a real insight into the life and history of Barbara Hepworth and her association with St Ives. Venturing up a narrow flight of cottage stairs, the bedroom is elegantly laid out with several smaller sculptures and more interesting features and facts. Heading out of the museum and into the courtyard, the old workshop and glasshouse is set back to the right, and a path leads left and into the garden where you can walk amongst Barbara’s sculptures.

The old timber-framed glasshouse, filled with large mature house plants, is awesome. The size of some of those house plants is incredible - we loved this area. The garden too, as well as hosting several amazing sculptures, contains a wonderful variety of mature trees and shrubs. The trees are sculptures in themselves and provide a unique balance to this beautiful environment.

We visited this museum and sculpture garden back in early July 2023, just after visiting the Tate St Ives (Check out review on the Tate St Ives). Although it was mid afternoon, we did not have to wait and again, entry is reasonably priced. We would highly recommend, and will most definitely return...

I don't think that the Barbara Hepworth museum overall was a bad experience but I think that in some parts it definitely lacked quality. In some parts such as the entrance which I expected to be an introduction to her earlier life and work instead was a small room with some photographs, some tools and printed text behind small glass openings in the wall which made difficult to read. Moving on to the upstairs was better but was still confusing! Upstairs contained around 7 different smaller works each labeled with a number without any context or official names which I am aware at least 1 or 2 of the works shown upstairs have due to my own research. Finally for the highlight of the trip the sculpture garden, this was definitely better than the previous two rooms but still very confusing to navigate. This contained her larger works and some small ones too which I enjoyed as the overall mix of different mediums outside was great creating a large variety of options to admire depending on your tastes. Overall this trip was a positive but confusing one due to lack of signage and context for the works shown and I would recommend going if in the area but not a place to...