Hastings Contemporary

When visiting England’s Creative Coast, make sure you take a trip to Hastings, a cosmopolitan coastal town steeped in history and renowned for the 1066 Battle of Hastings.

Here you’ll find the striking Hastings Contemporary gallery of modern and contemporary art, just a few steps from the beach and overlooking the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe, where you can see the town’s fishermen at work.

Hastings Contemporary reopens on 27 May 2021 with a sunny exhibition for the summer, Seaside Modern: Art and Life on the Beach.

Seaside Modern will feature work by favourite Modern British Artists including Paul Nash, William Roberts, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, as well as vintage railway advertising posters and archive holiday photographs.

Also on display will be Sir Quentin Blake’s We Live in Worrying Times and brand new work Hand in Hand.

Close to the gallery is the picturesque Old Town with its independent shops and galleries, traditional pubs, the Fishermen’s and Shipwreck Museums, and freshly caught and locally smoked fish for sale. Along the seafront is bohemian St Leonards-on-Sea, with more shops, galleries, bars, and restaurants where you can enjoy local fish and Sussex wines.