Edward Burra

Overview
Edward Burra
Edward Burra stands as one of the most singular and innovative figures in twentieth-century British art, celebrated for his incisive and vividly rendered portrayals of the urban underworld and queer subcultures.
Renowned as a virtuoso of watercolour, Burra subverted the medium's traditional delicacy, employing it to conjure bold, graphic, and often surreal compositions that pulsate with colour and satirical wit.
 
His oeuvre traverses a wide imaginative terrain, drawing upon a rich array of influences including music, theatre, popular culture, literature, and the visual arts. Burra's acute observational sensibility and cosmopolitan curiosity are manifest in works that not only document the exuberance and marginality of nightlife in Paris, Harlem, and the south of France, but also probe the complexities of race, sexuality, and class in modern society.
 
In June 2025 the Tate will stage the first Edward Burra retrospective in London in four decades. This will illuminate Burra's fascination with the social and cultural milieus he encountered abroad, as well as his role as a perceptive chronicler of his time. His practice extended beyond urban scenes to encompass macabre landscapes that reflect his engagement with the seismic events of the twentieth century, including the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, and the transformations of the post-war industrial era. Burra's lived experience of disability profoundly shaped his artistic approach, potentially informing his empathetic depictions of those on society's periphery.
Works
Exhibitions