The Derek Hill Collection at Mottisfont

An oil painting of Lake Como by the artist Derek Hill

Mottisfont houses a permanent collection of 20th-century art, amassed by the artist Derek Hill. This inspiring collection includes artists such as L.S. Lowry, Barbara Hepworth and Graham Sutherland. You can see many of these works in the Morning Room. There are also smaller, focused displays in the West Corridor.

Hampshire-born Derek Hill was a talented landscape and portrait artist. He was rich enough to buy the works of painters who had influenced him, and sociable and thoughtful enough to encourage talent in others.

He was a frequent visitor to Mottisfont due to a close friendship with Maud Russell, who commissioned works from him. In 1996, Hill gave his collection of 86 pictures to the National Trust through The Art Fund, to be displayed here.

The collection includes some of Hill's own work, including a pencil drawing of Maud Russell, and paintings of Tory Island. There are also pieces by Modern Movement painters who had inspired him, such as Gwen and Augustus John, Degas, Edwin Landseer, and Georges Seurat.

Sunset in Scotland, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA
An oil painting of a Scottish landscape by Edwin Landseer, part of the Derek Hill Collection at Mottisfont
Sunset in Scotland, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA

The West Corridor

We use the West Corridor to create small, focused exhibitions of selected works, which change to showcase different themes. We're currently highlighting five key drawings from the collection, by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Augustus John, John Piper, John Bratby and Anna Ticho.

The Morning Room

You’ll find most of the Derek Hill Collection on display here, with selected pieces highlighted, including works by Derek Hill himself, and landscapes by Joan Eardley and Edwin Landseer.

Catterline in Winter, Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley
An oil painting of a wintery landscape by Joan Eardley, part of the Derek Hill Collection at Mottisfont
Catterline in Winter, Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley