Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden

A sculptor's home, exactly as she left it

Tucked up a narrow lane in the heart of St Ives, Trewyn Studio was bought by the sculptor Barbara Hepworth in 1949 - she later wrote that finding it felt like "a sort of magic" - and she lived and worked there until her death in a fire at the studio in 1975. Today the house, studio and walled garden are preserved as the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, one of the most intimate and unusual artist's museums in Britain, and most of her bronzes remain in the positions in which she placed them herself.

The garden is as much a part of the experience as the sculptures within it - Hepworth designed the planting with help from her friend, the composer Priaulx Rainier, creating a lush, semi-tropical setting of palms, bamboo and climbing plants that frames each bronze in turn. Inside, visitors can see Hepworth's studio much as she left it, along with photographs, tools and works that trace her development as one of the leading figures of 20th-century British sculpture, closely associated with the St Ives art colony that also included Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo and Bernard Leach.

The museum was opened to the public in 1976, in line with Hepworth's wishes before her death, and later passed into the care of Tate, which also runs Tate St Ives a short walk away. The two sites share opening hours and a phone line, and visitors combining both make for one of the best half-days of art anywhere in Cornwall.

Opening Times & Ticket Prices

Open daily, 10am-5.20pm, matching Tate St Ives' hours.

Adult, with donation £11.00

Adult, without donation £10.00

Concession, with donation £10.00

Concession, without donation £9.00

Under 18s Free

Free for Tate Members and Locals Pass holders. Contact the museum for details of any combined ticket with Tate St Ives.