Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam

25 Jul-25 Oct 2026

Overview

Victorian artist Richard Dadd constructed fairytale worlds and highly original works of art. His creativity never ceased – rather, it flourished from within the confines of Bethlem and Broadmoor.

As a talented young artist, Dadd studied at the Royal Academy and travelled through Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt in search of picturesque subjects. Soon after, he started to experience psychosis and went on to spend 42 years as a patient in Bethlem and later Broadmoor Hospitals.

Dadd’s life was undeniably shaped by his mental illness. His work reflects a unique perspective from within the Victorian asylum, where he drew upon his past work, visual memory, and the landscapes and people he saw from within these institutions. These paintings and drawings are full of extraordinary and painstaking detail, showing the dedication Dadd devoted to keeping alive his imagination, memory, and his work.

Dadd's art was all but forgotten until it resurfaced in the 1970s. Ever since, it has continued to inspire artists, writers and musicians, including Cornelia Parker, Angela Carter and the band Queen whose record ‘The Fairy-Feller’s Master Stroke’ was directly inspired by Dadd’s painting of the same name.

This exhibition brings together more than 60 works that track Dadd’s life and career – art that was as radical and imaginative in his time as it is today.