Cecil Higgins Art Gallery

The gallery is housed in an early Victorian mansion next to Bedford Museum in what was formerly the Higgins and Sons Brewery built in 1838. The gallery holds collections of watercolours, prints, ceramics and furniture as well as an extended collection of works by Edward Bawden. The archive and content of Bawden's studio were a generous gift by the artist in 1986. The collection in general ranges from the 16th century to the late 1980's and houses a large number of watercolours as well as oils and prints.

Among the collection are works by Hogarth, Gainsborough, Turner, Girtin, Constable, Cotman, Blake, Samuel Palmer Millais, Rossetti, Landseer, Whistler and Beardsley. The 20th century is well represented with examples by Helen Allingham, Gwen John, LS Lowry, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Walter Sickert and Lucian Freud. There are also sculptures by Jacob Epstein, Richard Garbe and Barbara Hepworth.