Garden to Canvas

Philip Mould & Company are delighted to present Garden to Canvas: Cedric Morris and Benton End, an exhibition in our gallery on London's Pall Mall, celebrating the vibrant flower paintings of Cedric Morris (1889–1982). Guest-curated by James Horner, Head Gardener at Benton End, the exhibition brings together works that have played a key role in the revival of Morris’s historic Suffolk garden.

Benton End, a sixteenth-century house near Hadleigh, was the home of Morris and his lifelong partner Arthur Lett-Haines (1894–1978). From this remarkable setting, the pair ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing – a place where art, horticulture, and community thrived side by side. With its free-flowing spirit, open-minded ethos, and rejection of academic conventions, Benton End became a haven for creative freedom. Many artists, including a young Lucian Freud, acknowledged that it was here where their true artistic identities first took root.

Following Morris’ death in 1982, the house and garden fell into neglect. In 2021, Benton End was gifted to the Garden Museum, and over the past two years, its gardens have been carefully renewed. Many of Morris’ original flowers and planting schemes have now been reintroduced, guided by the paintings on display in this exhibition.

Morris’ flower paintings, admired for their bold compositions, painterly vitality, and botanical precision, capture the spirit of his caring, intuitive gardening style. In a remarkable collaboration between art and horticulture, James Horner and his team have used these works as living documents helping Benton End bloom once more in line with Morris’s philosophy, more than half a century since he first stepped foot on its soil.

Opening to coincide with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (20–24 May 2025), Garden to Canvas also anticipates the reopening of Benton End’s gardens to the public in 2026. As James Horner explains: "We have painstakingly cleaned, weeded and repaired the garden over the past two years. Watching the surviving flora gain strength under our strong yet organic approach has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the project so far. Soon, with the reintroduction of hundreds of plants Morris grew and painted, the garden will be vibrant and abundant again."

The gallery will be closed on Wednesday 21st May and from 4pm on Thursday 22nd May for gallery events.