Betty Parsons
Forthcoming: De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea
4 October 2025 – 4 January 2026
Betty Parsons, Found Forms, 1978, Oil on canvas, 109 x 125.3 x 6cm © The Betty Parsons Foundation
Alison Jacques announces the first survey exhibition of Betty Parsons’ work in Europe at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea. The exhibition traces the trajectory of Parsons’ artistic practice through painting, sculpture and poetry, and opens Saturday 2 October 2025, continuing until 4 January 2026.
Parsons developed a bold, playful, and expressive style, with influences ranging from natural phenomena and the cosmos to spirituality. Extensive travel across Europe, Africa, Japan, and Mexico deeply enriched her relationship with colour and form, while the coastal landscape of Long Island, New York inspired her pursuit of capturing fleeting energy in her surroundings, which she described as the ‘sheer energy’ or ‘invisible presence’ of a situation. In the 1970s, Parsons began sculpting, using driftwood from the beaches near her studio to create small, memento-like constructions. This coastal setting also inspired her poetry, which filled her sketchbooks alongside watercolours of the landscape.