Dulwich Picture Gallery prepares to unveil its £5 million revamp as it brings art outside as well as in the building

The ArtPlay Pavilion is a key part of the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s £5 million upgrade due to be unveiled on the weekend of September 6-7.

It’s part of the biggest redevelopment project at the country’s oldest purpose-built public art gallery for 20 years and involves the transformation of three acres of green space into a new public offering.

The ArtPlay Pavilion – an inspired facility to encourage children to become involved with the artistic process at an early age – is a permanent timber play space for under-eights offering sensory play activities.

Designed by Sarah Marsh and Stephanie Jefferies of HoLD Collective, with parts of the space inspired by famous paintings in the gallery’s collections, it has earned the support of the Julia Rausing Trust.

Catering facilities at the Gallery Cottage have also been extended to create The Canteen, which will serve as a school lunch area as well as a family café and shop on weekends. This gives the gallery the capacity to cater for 150 school groups.

The Sculpture Garden is also now larger than before, and will include the Lovington Sculpture Meadow, designed by landscape artist Kim Wilkie to the south side of the gardens, that will focus on environmental and health benefits of using green space for art. There, visitors will find an ‘art forest’ of 130 newly planted trees and an undulating land art form that echoes Dulwich’s most celebrated painting, Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window (1645).

The Sculpture Garden will display a new series of contemporary sculptural installations, and these will evolve as the venue explores themes of nature and play in connection with the gallery’s collection.

The first thing visitors will notice is the new entrance on Gallery Road and the opening up of views across the gardens.

Gallery Director Jennifer Scott said: “We are staying true to the Gallery’s founding idea that great art is made for sharing. These new spaces will open up more opportunities for families, schools and visitors of all ages to engage with art and nature.”

Those keen to support Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new vision may still do so, as the appeal continues to raise the final £20,000.