Cornwall

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-books-RB-image-1000x667.jpg" alt="Muddy Cornwall Editor's Barbara Hepworth books" class="wp-image-37090" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-books-RB-image-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-books-RB-image-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-books-RB-image-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-books-RB-image.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



On 20 May 1975, Dame Barbara Hepworth, aged 72, died at Trewyn Studios, now the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives/barbara-hepworth-museum-and-sculpture-garden">Barbara Hepworth Museum &amp; Sculpture Garden</a>. The museum is now owned and managed by Tate, and is a beautiful place to while away an afternoon.



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Hepworth moved to Cornwall from London with her second husband, Ben Nicholson, and their children, in 1939 to escape the Second World War. She lived first in <a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/cornwall/carbis-bay/">Carbis Bay</a>, arriving at the residence of art critic Adrian Stokes (Little Park Owles) later belonging to the artist Peter Lanyon. In 1942 Ben and Barbara moved to their own residence, Chy-an-Kerris which had a garden and sea view (and you can now rent for a holiday) before buying Trewyn Studios in 1949.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-images-1000x667.jpeg" alt="Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden St Ives Cornwall" class="wp-image-37088" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-images-1000x667.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-images-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-images-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-images.jpeg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in May</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB.jpg" alt="Barbara Hepworth Studio Cornwall" class="wp-image-23268" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-720x480.jpg 720w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Sculpture-Garden-St-Ives-RB-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



As you enter the museum, the first room is dedicated to a timeline of Barbara&#8217;s life, with images and artefacts, with her upstairs sun lit room hosting some of her smaller works. Outside is the studio as she left it, and then the gardens that she laid out with help from a friend, the composer Priaulx Rainier. With something of interest in every season, it is an extremely peaceful place.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Museum-Sculpture-Garden-RB-image-1000x667.jpg" alt="Barbara Hepworth Museum &amp; Sculpture Garden Cornwall" class="wp-image-37093" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Museum-Sculpture-Garden-RB-image-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Museum-Sculpture-Garden-RB-image-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Museum-Sculpture-Garden-RB-image-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/Barbara-Hepworth-Museum-Sculpture-Garden-RB-image.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



Don&#8217;t miss <a href="https://www.instagram.com/palaisprovisions/">Palais Provisions</a>, just outside the walls on Barnoon Hill, for an ice cream &#8211; or glass of vino- afterwards. Just opposite is another of Hepworth&#8217;s studios &#8211; Palais de Danse &#8211; a former cinema and dance hall which has now also passed in Tate ownership and is gradually being refurbished.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-else-to-see-barbara-hepworth-s-sculptures">Where else to see Barbara Hepworth&#8217;s sculptures?</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="668" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/The-Hepworth-Room-Penwith-Gallery-St-Ives-RB-image-1000x668.jpg" alt="The Hepworth Room at Penwith Gallery St Ives Cornwall" class="wp-image-37089" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/The-Hepworth-Room-Penwith-Gallery-St-Ives-RB-image-1000x668.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/The-Hepworth-Room-Penwith-Gallery-St-Ives-RB-image-800x535.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/The-Hepworth-Room-Penwith-Gallery-St-Ives-RB-image-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/The-Hepworth-Room-Penwith-Gallery-St-Ives-RB-image.jpg 1496w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Magic Stone, 1972, Barbara Hepworth</figcaption></figure>



Just around the corner from the Tate St Ives is last year&#8217;s Muddy Award-winning <a href="https://penwithgallery.com/">Penwith Gallery</a>, home to the Penwith Society of Arts of which Barbara Hepworth was a founding member. Free to enter, The Hepworth Room showcases important work from the archive, including, Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture ‘Magic Stone’, above.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-Barnoon-Hill-and-St-Ives-Church-RB-image-1000x667.jpg" alt="St Ives Parish Church from Barnoon Hill" class="wp-image-37091" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-Barnoon-Hill-and-St-Ives-Church-RB-image-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-Barnoon-Hill-and-St-Ives-Church-RB-image-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-Barnoon-Hill-and-St-Ives-Church-RB-image-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-Barnoon-Hill-and-St-Ives-Church-RB-image.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image.jpg" alt="barbara hepworth sculpture garden winter RB image" class="wp-image-32656" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image-600x800.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image-750x1000.jpg 750w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/01/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-garden-winter-RB-image-394x525.jpg 394w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



In 1953, Hepworth&#8217;s son Paul died in an RAF plane crash in Thailand. In 1954 Hepworth carved Madonna and Child from marble in his memory, donating it to St Ives Parish Church, where it can still be viewed today. St Ives Parish Church is at the bottom of Barnoon Hill, below the museum and sculpture garden.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-from-The-Terrace-RB-image-1000x667.jpg" alt="St Ives Cornwall" class="wp-image-37092" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-from-The-Terrace-RB-image-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-from-The-Terrace-RB-image-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-from-The-Terrace-RB-image-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/05/St-Ives-from-The-Terrace-RB-image.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



At the top end of St Ives, near to the bus and railway stations is The Terrace and the The Malakoff Garden with gorgeous views out over St Ives and Porthminster Beach. One of seven bronze sculptures, the Epidauros II <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tatestives/p/C2W20MXM9uX/">can be seen here</a>, dating back to 1961. 



While works are carried out at The Guildhall,  <a href="https://barbarahepworth.org.uk/sculptures/1965/dual-form/">Dual Form</a> &#8211; bronze, 1965 &#8211; is being stored.



In Truro, at Cornwall County Council, County Hall, <a href="https://barbarahepworth.org.uk/sculptures/1964/rock-form-porthcurno/">Rock Form (Porthcurno)</a> -bronze, 1964 &#8211; is in the courtyard. 



<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives/barbara-hepworth-museum-and-sculpture-garden">Barbara Hepworth Museum &amp; Sculpture Garden</a> is free for locals pass holders and Tate members / £8/£7 concessions



Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, Barnoon Hill, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1AD

Barbara Hepworth sculptures to visit in Cornwall

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