In November 2024 Matthew Lanyon’s painting, Godrevy 101, arrived at Penlee House Museum & Art Gallery in Penzance as a gift from Judith Lanyon with support from Art Fund.

Godrevy 101 depicts an iconic local landmark from a contemporary perspective, and is part of a numbered series of paintings, of which only two remain unsold and in the public domain. Godrevy is a Cornish word meaning ‘little huts, little homestead’, and describes a beach in Cornwall, situated beside the North Cliffs and Western Hill and at the far end of St Ives Bay.

Since its arrival, the painting has been on display at Penlee House in a space dedicated to new acquisitions, and in the longer-term the work will be featured in exhibitions exploring themes of topography and Cornish art. 

Godrevy 101 joins Penlee’s significant holdings of works by artists from the Newlyn School and Lamorna Colony (1880-1940) and provides a unique contrast to another historic painting in the collection by Julius Olsson RA (1964-1942) depicting the Godrevy lighthouse in the 1880s. 

This acquisition marks a significant moment as the first of Matthew Lanyon’s artworks to enter a public collection in the UK.