Empty galleries, global stage: The Wallace Collection unveils its secret wartime history

In 1939, as Britain prepared for the impact of war, Hertford House – home of the Wallace Collection – underwent a transformation unlike any other in its history. Its world-renowned artworks were evacuated for safekeeping, its galleries emptied, and the building was briefly repurposed as a stage for exhibitions designed to galvanise public opinion and strengthen Britain’s relationships with its wartime allies. The Wallace Collection at War, a free display opening in April 2026, brings this extraordinary moment to life. Drawing extensively on newly revisited archival material, surviving catalogues, wartime records and artworks actually shown in 1942, the display will trace how Hertford House became an unlikely forum for cultural diplomacy. The display focuses on two key exhibitions held in 1942 that championed the Soviet Union after its entry into the war: Artists Aid Russia and Twenty-Five Years of Progress. Examined together, they reveal how art, information and propaga