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The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne have a new exhibition taking place from 5th October 2024 until 26th April 2025.

The Laing Art Gallery can be found on New Bridge Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AG.

Romance to Realities – The Northern Landscape and Shifting Identities is a new exhibition exploring over 200 years of landscape painting in the North of England and Scotland focusing on the diverse and dramatic landscapes of the regions and how artists have depicted not only the world around us, but also our place within it.

For centuries, the landscapes of the North have fascinated artists and this exhibition will focus on how these landscapes (urban, rural, land, sea and sky) have changed.

From the Romanticised visions of early artists to the more complex and sometimes harsh realities captured in later works, the paintings reveal not just the physical changes in the land, but also shifts in societal values and human experience.

The Romance to Realities exhibition charts thematic changes in landscape painting.

It explores the idea of landscape as ‘sublime,’ awe-inspiring and overwhelming, and idealised or ‘picturesque,’ which was tied to notions of national identity.

Some of the works examine the realities and everyday details of landscapes shaped by agriculture, industry, and urbanisation in later periods, including figures of labourers working in fields, quarries, and mines.

It also explores the displacement of communities, the migration to urban centres and the enduring connection between people and their surroundings, including conceptions of place and belonging.

The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the past, understand the present and consider the future of these ever-changing landscapes.

Romance to Realities – The Northern Landscape and Shifting Identities includes works by early pioneers of British landscape art such as John Knox, Alexander Nasmyth, and John Martin through to modern and contemporary works by Anne Redpath, L.S. Lowry, and Joan Eardley.

Admission charges apply.

Ticket prices are as follows…

Full price (with donation) – £9
Full price (without donation) – £7
Concessions (senior citizens age 65+, students, registered unemployed, disabled people plus free entry for one carer) – £6
Multi-visit – £16
Member (Membership discount applies to Friends of the Laing, Art Fund members and Laing Exhibition Partners) – £3.50
Multi-visit member – £9
21 and under – Free

Tickets can be purchased on the day, no need to pre-book.

More information about the exhibition can be found here Turner – Art, Industry & Nostalgia Exhibition (opens in a new window).

If you are looking for hotel accommodation for your visit to the Laing Art Gallery on New Bridge Street West in Newcastle upon Tyne our bed and breakfast best price and room availability is here Book Online.

Room information including photographs can be found on the Accommodation page of our website.

Last online booking received
Tuesday 9th June 2026, 13:55 BST
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