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A person sits on a wooden deck chair in a garden setting, sewing or embroidering a yellow-green fabric. They are wearing a blue outfit with an orange shawl. The scene includes a brick floor and lush greenery in the background.

Portrait of a Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group

A person sits on a wooden deck chair in a garden setting, sewing or embroidering a yellow-green fabric. They are wearing a blue outfit with an orange shawl. The scene includes a brick floor and lush greenery in the background.

June 7, 2025 - May 10, 2026

“On or about December 1910, human character changed.” Here, Virginia Woolf, with characteristic humor, refers to the pivotal moment when artist and critic Roger Fry staggered London with his two Post-Impressionist exhibitions, marking the international development of modernism. Painters, novelists, and critics associated with Fry pioneered a distinctive visual style and a shift in cultural and societal attitudes; they were known as the Bloomsbury Group. 

At its core, Bloomsbury was a conversation—an artistic and intellectual dialogue that blurred the boundaries between painting and literature, criticism and creation. The Rollins Museum of Art holds an extensive collection of works by members of this collective, including Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, and Walter Richard Sickert. Portrait of a Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group celebrates the debut of Fry’s Summer in the Garden (1911), a significant portrait of Vanessa Bell recently acquired by the museum and displayed in the United States for the first time. 

Amid renewed interest in the Bloomsbury Group’s artistic production, this exhibition builds on recent scholarship and ongoing revivals to offer a more nuanced interpretation of their work and activities. Resisting narrow biographical interpretations, it instead foregrounds the exchange of ideas, illuminating the group's dynamic dialogue with European modernism, gender, domesticity, and one another.

Be sure to visit this exhibition in our Summer and Fall 2025 as well as Winter 2026 seasons as works on view will rotate between seasons.

Image: Roger Fry (British, 1866-1934) Summer in the Garden, 1911, Oil on panel, 19 x 23 1/8 in., Museum purchase from the Kenneth Curry Acquisition Fund. 2024.50. ©Roger Fry

Related Events and Content - Winter 2026

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Arte y Café Con La Curadora

3 de febrero | February 3 | 6pm

Acompaña a la Dra. Gisela Carbonell, Curadora, para recorridos guiados en español. Entrada libre de costo. / Join Curator Dr. Gisela Carbonell for exhibition tours in Spanish. Admission is free.

Reserva tu espacio para asisitir a los recorridos de las exhibiciones / Reserve your spot to attend these exhibition tours.

Registro/Register
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Exhibition Tour

March 13 | 11am

Deepen your engagement with the Bloomsbury Group and discover the stories behind the artworks. Join Rollins Museum of Art Curator Dr. Gisela Carbonell, for an engaging exhibition tour of Portrait of a Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group. This guided experience invites audiences to look closely, ask questions, and explore the ideas, contexts, and narratives that shape this exhibition.

Admission is free with registration. Secure your spot — register now!

Register
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Listen to the Audio Guide on Bloomberg Connects

Gain insights into the Bloomsbury Group. Download Bloomberg Connects to listen to the Portrait of A Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group Audio Guide.

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Media and Supplemental Materials

  • An ad for an online article featuring a painting of a woman sitting outdoors with green fabric draped across her lap.

    Summer in the Garden

    by Wendy Hitchmough

    Read this article from Yale University Press about the Bloomsbury Group.

  • Rollins Museum of Art Gallery Purple Wall with hand drawn pencil sketch of a woman framed on the wall

    Modernism in Intimate Gestures: The Bloomsbury Group at Rollins Museum of Art

    Dive deeper into Portrait of Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group exhibition at Rollins Museum of Art in this Orlando Weekly article by Moriah Russo, Curatorial Assistant.

  • Woman smiles in black and white photo next to a colorful book with an artwork of a woman

    Dr. Wendy Hitchmough to Give Exclusive Lecture at Rollins Museum of Art on Vanessa Bell: The Life and Art of a Bloomsbury Radical and her Sister Virginia Woolf

    Learn more about Wendy Hitchmough and her lecture about Bloomsbury Group radicals Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry among others featured in Portrait of Movement: A New Approach to the Bloomsbury Group at Rollins Museum of Art.

  • Orlando Sentinel article with artwork of a church filled with women wearing large colorful hats

    Sartorial Rollins Museum of Art exhibit eyes fashion sense and sensibility

    by Matthew Palm, Orlando Sentinel

    “The exhibit rounds up new scholarship on the Bloomsbury Group — and for good measure throws in a Picasso etching and Matisse woodblock print so you can see for yourselves how the Bloomsbury artists were following their own path.”

Related Events - Fall 2025

  • left, a book cover Vanessa Bell The Life & Art of Bloomsbury Radical. Right, Black and white image of asmiling woman wearing glasses.

    Vanessa Bell: The Life and Art of a Bloomsbury Radical

    with Author Wendy Hitchmough

    Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 6pm | Free

    Attend in-person or register to attend virtually

  • woman points to painting while crowd looks on

    Exhibition Tour

    June 27 & November 14, 2025 | 11am

    Join Moriah Russo '13 for a guided tour of Portrait of a Movement. No reservation necessary. Admission is FREE!

  • Woman takes a picture of a painting on the wall standing next to another woman

    Exhibition Previews

    June 6 & September 12, 2025 | 5:30-7pm 

    Museum Members are invited to explore a season preview of exhibitions. RSVP to dmack@rolliins.edu

  • Woman points to artwork while crowd looks on

    Arte y Café con la Curadora

    8 de julio | July 8 | 6pm 

    Acompaña a la Dra. Gisela Carbonell, Curadora, para recorridos guiados en español. / Join Curator Dr. Gisela Carbonell for exhibition tours in Spanish.

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  • Woman points to painting in front of a seated audience in a Rollins Museum of Art gallery

    Arte y Café Con La Curadora

    Acompaña a la Dra. Gisela Carbonell, Curadora, para recorridos guiados en español.

    Join Curator Dr. Gisela Carbonell for exhibition tours in Spanish.

  • Overhead view of the interior galleries at Rollins Museum of Art

    360 Degree Virtual Exhibition Views

    Take a virtual tour of past exhibitions!

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    Museum Highlights Tours

    Second and Last Saturdays at 1pm

    Enjoy tours of select works in current exhibitions at the Rollins Museum of Art. Tours last approximately 45 minutes. Admission is free. Secure your spot — reserve now!

  • Hand holds phone in front of Painting of a woman on the wall of Rollins Museum of Art.

    Audio Guides

    Listen to audio guides of museum highlights, art at The Alfond Inn, our Outdoor Sculpture Tour, and more on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

Gallery at Rollins Museum of Art.

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