★★★★ – The Guardian
★★★★ – The i Paper
Throughout her career, Betty Parsons (1900 – 1982) created an extensive body of paintings and sculptures characterised by their bold, playful and expressive style. Sheer Energy is the first institutional survey exhibition of her work in Europe and traces the trajectory of her practice across five decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Parsons is primarily known as the visionary New York gallerist who significantly shaped twentieth-century art in the US through the Betty Parsons Gallery. Alongside her gallery career, Parsons maintained a rigorous artistic practice, working at weekends at her studio in Southold, Long Island. As she once observed in an interview: ‘When I’m painting in my studio…I forget the gallery entirely.’ This exhibition focuses on Parsons’ parallel practice of making and her ongoing pursuit to capture the fleeting qualities of her surroundings, which she described as the ‘sheer energy’ or ‘invisible presence’ of a situation.
Arranged through a loose chronology across both the Pavilion’s galleries, this exhibition highlights the cycles, returns and layers that are a fundamental part of the encounter with Parsons’ body of work. It is the ‘sheer energy’, the quality of life, that unfolds across her dynamic and capacious oeuvre, as she captured not what a place or event looked like, but what it made her feel. Parsons’ is a practice that resists periodisation; rather, it privileges the role of spontaneity and intuition in channelling momentary glimmers within the present.
Betty Parsons: Sheer Energy is curated by Joseph Constable, Head of Exhibitions, De La Warr Pavilion, and is realised in collaboration with The Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation, represented by Alison Jacques, and Alexander Gray Associates, New York.
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About the Artist
Betty Parsons’s work has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions at Marion Art Center, MA (2022); Art Omi, Ghent, NY (2018); The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY (1992); the Montclair Museum of Art, NJ (1974); Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom (1968), and The Miami Museum of Modern Art, FL (1963). Parsons’s work is represented in prominent public collections including the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; among others.
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Staying locally
There are plenty of welcoming and good value B&Bs & boutique hotels in Bexhill. The De La Warr Pavilion regularly uses the following:
The Relais Cooden Beach Hotel and Spa
Situated on a private beach with uninterrupted views of the English Channel, this immaculately restored four-star hotel is just a 10-minute drive from De La Warr Pavilion. Receive 10% discount on rooms* from Sunday to Thursday (excluding Fridays and Saturdays) using the promo code DLWP. BOOK NOW.
*Offer available until 31 March 2026 (blackout dates apply). Free cancellation up to 24 hours before arrival. Paid partnership with The Relais Cooden Beach Hotel & Spa.
Travel information
- By Rail
Direct trains go from London Victoria, Brighton and Ashford to Bexhill.
There are also trains from London Charing Cross, changing at St. Leonards Warrior Square and from London Bridge or Charing Cross going to Battle. Battle is only a short taxi journey away (15 mins approx).
Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for up-to-date train travel information. - Taxis
Town Taxis: 01424 211 511
Parkhurst Taxis: 01424 733 456 - By Car
If driving from the London area:
Take the M25, then A21 to Hastings. Turn off at John‘s Cross and follow the signs to Bexhill.
OR
Take the A22 to Eastbourne, go across the Bishop roundabout to the A271 and follow the signs to Bexhill and the seafront. The De La Warr Pavilion is on the Marina.
From the Brighton area:
Follow the A27 out of Brighton until you arrive in Bexhill On Sea. - Parking
Please be aware the Rother District car park outside the De La Warr Pavilion operates paid parking until 10pm. After this time parking is free. There is also limited free car parking along the seafront.
Accessibility
Within the limits of this Grade One listed building, the De La Warr Pavilion strives to be fully accessible with a range of facilities to support your visit.
Assistance Dogs are permitted into the building.
Please contact the Box Office on 01424 229 111 to arrange a visit.
Facilities for disabled visitors
- Ramped access at the front of the building
- A low counter at the Box Office and Information Desk
- Disabled toilets on two floors
- A lift to all floors
- Accessible galleries on both floors
- An accessible Café
- Spaces for wheelchairs in the auditorium for seated events
- Ramped access in the auditorium for events during the day
- Ramped access into the Studio
- Two travel wheelchairs are available for use at the De La Warr Pavilion. To reserve, please call our box office and information desk on (01424) 229111 or ask a member of staff on arrival. The chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis and are intended for use inside the Pavilion. Please contact us for more information.
Facilities for blind or visually-impaired
- Large print season brochures
Facilities for the hard-of-hearing
- An T-Switch induction loop in some areas of the auditorium (please indicate when booking as this facility is not available on the balcony)
- British Sign Language interpretation tours of the building and exhibitions are available on request.
Sensory Bags
- Sensory bags will be available from the Ground floor or First floor gallery and contain supportive items for people with neurodivergence, anxiety or sensory sensitives.Sensory bags include:
One set of ear defenders
A selection of fidget toys
One soft foam stress ball
A set of 6 coloured paddles
One light up magnifying glass. You can sign one out and bring it back before you leave.
Sensory bags are funded by UK Government.