The Founders’ Galleries

The reimagined Founders’ Galleries at The Bowes Museum offer a fresh and contemporary look at the lives and legacy of Joséphine and John Bowes.

Developed through extensive new research and shaped by community voices, the galleries present a more personal and human story of the museum’s co-founders. Through letters, objects and archival discoveries, visitors are invited to explore the couple not only as collectors and visionaries, but as individuals and partners whose shared ambition brought one of Britain’s most remarkable museums to life.

Designed to encourage exploration, the galleries feature interactive displays, flexible layouts and objects brought closer than ever before. Visitors can move freely through the spaces, engaging with stories in a way that feels immediate, immersive and open-ended.

For the first time in over 40 years, all three gallery spaces have been fully redesigned, reconnecting the museum with the surrounding Teesdale landscape. Alongside this, a renewed focus on Joséphine Bowes highlights her role as an artist and cultural figure, showcasing rarely seen works that reveal her creativity, influence and independence. With more objects on display than ever before, the galleries offer a rich and evolving insight into the origins of The Bowes Museum and its continuing story.

Crucially, the transformation has been shaped by community voices. Local groups, Weardale Together and UTASS worked alongside artist Zoe Allen to develop collaborative artworks which are displayed in the spaces. This community-led approach presents historical narratives in dialogue with lived experience, forging new emotional connections with a new generation of visitors and reinforcing the museum’s role as a cultural resource for people across the north of England and beyond.