The Faces We Present

This exhibition brings portraits of those once hailed as ‘the great and the good’ of mental healthcare face to face with a range of self-depictions that communicate the complexity of the parts we all play in life. The Faces We Present is a collaboration between Bethlem Museum of the Mind and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust’s Lived Experience Network, who have steered the presentation of the exhibition and have written captions for many of the artworks.

As well as artworks from the Museum’s collection, the exhibition will include Richard Dadd’s Portrait of a Young Man on loan from Tate. Painted whilst the artist was a patient at Bethlem, the subject of the painting is unidentified but is believed to be a portrait of Dr William Charles Hood who was superintendent at Bethlem during Richard Dadd’s stay. Returning to Bethlem after 170 years, the loan of the painting is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.

Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.