Acclaimed Scottish artist celebrated in her 90th year with major exhibition
Perth Art Gallery has announced a major retrospective exhibition celebrating acclaimed Scottish artist Lys Hansen, opening on 27 November 2026, as part of the artist’s 90th birthday year. Advance tickets are now on sale.
Lys Hansen was born in Falkirk in 1936, and lives in Stirlingshire, and works in Perthshire. Hansen attended Craigmount School when it was situated at Scone Palace and received dance lessons from celebrated dancer, choreographer and artist Margaret Morris, whose work and belongings are also on display at Perth Art Gallery.
The year-long exhibition features over 35 artworks, including large-scale paintings and several sculptures, alongside a new artwork created during the development of this exhibition The Brave and the Fallen (2026). The show will also include a large-scale work held in the collections cared for by Culture Perth & Kinross, How Wisdom and Folly Meet, Mix and Unite, How Virtue and Vice Blend Their Black and Their White (1987).
Hansen is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s most important figurative expressionist painters having spent more than six decades exploring themes of memory, identity, conflict and human relationships. Her career has seen her work across Europe, including France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Hansen had been working in Berlin since 1985 and was there when the Wall fell in 1989, an experience that greatly influenced her creative direction. Her work is deeply personal, with her introspection balanced by reflections on some of the darkest moments in human history.
Lys Hansen said: “This is the best way I know how to celebrate my 90th birthday. By sharing my life and my passion through paint, I am delighted to have been invited by the team at Perth Art Gallery and so incredibly thankful for this opportunity and privilege.
“Growing up during the war, my childhood was very dark. My father was on the convoys going to Russia with supplies, and my mother was a town baker in Alloa. All these memories have shaped and formed me as an artist, and I see myself as a witness. I use paint to make visible the images of the past and present to create hope, hope for the future. All of us have lived through radical times which shape and colour us. The art reflects this. I should like to thank the many galleries, museums and art centres which have hosted my work and those curators and gallerists who have supported me.”
Helen Smout, Chief Executive Officer of Culture Perth and Kinross, added “We’re delighted to celebrate the 90th birthday of Lys Hansen with this groundbreaking retrospective exhibition. As the first exhibition hosted by Perth Art Gallery since 2017 dedicated to a living female artist, it is a privilege to present Hansen’s remarkable work to audiences in Perth. Hansen has created a powerful and deeply personal body of work that continues to speak to contemporary audiences. Her paintings offer profound reflections on humanity, memory, conflict and resilience, and remain as relevant today as ever. This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to experience the breadth of her artistic achievement and to celebrate one of Scotland’s most important living artists.”
With support from Falkirk Leisure and Culture and Dr Marianne Greated, Head of Art at the University of Edinburgh, who has worked as a curatorial adviser on the project, Lys Hansen: A Retrospective brings together paintings and sculptures exploring the diversity of Hansen’s work. Bringing together works spanning decades of Hansen’s career, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on their own emotions, memories and experiences through encounters with her art.
Lys Hansen: A Retrospective opens on 27 November 2026 at Perth Art Gallery and runs until 23 December 2027. Culture Perth and Kinross Supporters and Under 18s go free. Admission is £9 for adults and £7 for concessions, which includes disabled people, unwaged, students and those in receipt of Universal or Pension Credit.
This exhibition has been supported by Museums Galleries Scotland and Trauma Healing Together