Unfinished… Works from The Courtauld Gallery

This year’s Summer Showcase Special Display brings together paintings, sculpture drawings and prints from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century that have all been described – rightly or wrongly – as ‘unfinished’.

Many of the works on display were set aside by a dissatisfied artist or left incomplete upon their death, providing a fascinating insight into the interrupted artistic process.

Others occupy a more ambiguous territory: The impressionists were widely criticised for displaying works that looked unfinished and the late nineteenth century saw clashes between artistic intention and public reception.

These significant works of art allows us to explore what it means for an artist to consider a work as finished, and what happens when critics disagree.