The Warburg Institute Reveals £14.5 Million Transformation

We are thrilled to unveil the completion of the Warburg Renaissance—a £14.5 million transformation of our Bloomsbury home. Opening on 2 October 2024, visitors can explore our newly renovated spaces, including a dramatic auditorium and our first gallery, as we introduce a fresh programme of public displays, events and residencies.

Designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Haworth Tompkins, the Warburg Renaissance introduces a suite of dynamic spaces designed to showcase our collections and foster public engagement. Among the highlights are the Kythera Gallery, our first ever public gallery space, and the Hinrich Reemtsma Auditorium, a 110-seat auditorium built for lectures, performances, film screenings and more. Together, these spaces create a vibrant hub where art, history and culture can be explored in new and exciting ways.

Other new spaces include the Wohl Reading Room (open to Library Readers, students, and fellows), a light filled area dedicated to the study of our special collections, including rare books and manuscripts, as well as the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Teaching Suite, designed to support seminars, workshops, and other academic programmes. Our building’s transformation has been carefully considered to honour its historic character whilst providing a modern, accessible environment for scholars, students and visitors to engage with our collections.

Inaugural Display: Memory & Migration

We celebrate the opening with Memory & Migration: The Warburg Institute 1926–2024, a special display running from 2 October to 20 December 2024. This exhibition will narrate the Warburg Institute’s journey from Hamburg to London, exploring its interwoven histories of movement and survival. Highlights from our collections include Aby Warburg’s trunk and sketchbook, original illustrations from Frances Yates’ The Art of Memory, and a diagram from Einstein to Warburg.

The display will also showcase newly commissioned photographs by artist in residence Tereza Červeňová, documenting the building’s transformation. Central to the Kythera Gallery is Edmund de Waal’s evocative library of exile, an installation that creates a space for dialogue around books, migration, and memory.

Looking Ahead: Exhibitions and Programmes in 2025

In 2025, we will present a series of displays and events, including:

• Tarot: Origins & Afterlives (31 January – 30 April 2025), which will explore the evolution of tarot cards from a fifteenth-century game to modern-day cultural symbolism.
• Art & The Book (May – July 2025), will bring together the world of art books and artist’s publishing, with a summer programme of book fairs, talks, and workshops to mark the 75th anniversary of Sir Ernst Gombrich’s The Story of Art.
• Black Atlas (September – December 2025), a major new film commission and curated display by Edward George, exploring Black figures in Western art, drawing from the Warburg’s Menil Archive.

Assetto Fellowships 

As part of our commitment to fostering interdisciplinary exploration, we are delighted to launch the Assetto Fellowships. These annual residencies will welcome three creative practitioners from fields such as visual arts, photography, music and design. Fellows will engage deeply with our collections and contribute to our public programme, creating new dialogues between the Warburg and the contemporary arts.

Join the Friends of the Warburg

As we embark on this exciting new chapter, we invite all supporters to join the Friends of the Warburg. Our Friends play a crucial role in helping us maintain the Institute as a hub of interdisciplinary research and supporting its future.

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