National Museums Liverpool unveil new programme for Spring/Summer 2025 - Press Release

John Moores Painting Prize returns, former prize winner opens new exhibition and young people’s work showcased, as the National Museums Liverpool nurtures artistic talent across their galleries

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  • John Moores Painting Prize returns to Walker Art Gallery 6 September 2025 - 1 March 2026

  • Walker Art Gallery will also host John Moores Painting Prize 2023 winner Graham Cowley with his exhibition 'Light Industry' 14 March – 13 July 2025

  • Two exhibitions, 'dot.art: Schools' and 'Fresh Perspectives', to showcase work by the region’s young artists. 

Art’s most well-known and open-to-all painting prize, the John Moores Painting Prize, returns for its 68th year in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery in 2025, as National Museums Liverpool announces a series of exhibitions dedicated to nurturing talent.

Returning from 6 September 2025 - 1 March 2026, the John Moores Painting Prize brings together the best of contemporary painting from across the UK. First held in 1957, the competition was named after its founding sponsor Sir John Moores. The Prize is open to all artists working with paint, who are aged 18 years or over and live or are professionally based in the UK.  

Past winners have included Peter Doig, Rose Wylie, David Hockney and Sir Peter Blake, who became the first patron of the John Moores Painting Prize in 2011, after winning the Junior section of John Moores with his painting ‘Self Portrait with Badges’ in 1961.

Call for entries for the 2025 will open in February 2025 and will undergo two judging stages before the final selection is made for the exhibition in September 2025.

The prize is joined in 2025 by a solo exhibition from the 2023 John Moores Painting Prize winner Graham Cowley.

Cowley’s painting ‘Light Industry’ took first prize at the most John Moores Painting Prize in 2023. Selected from 3,357 entries and inspired by the light at a motorcycle dealership in Framlingham, the painting has become part of the permanent collection at Walker Art Gallery.  

Now Cowley’s solo display, also titled 'Light Industry', will offer visitors the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into his work including a new body of work, from 14 March – 13 July 2025 at Walker Art Gallery.

Spring/Summer 2025 will also see the return of two popular schools exhibitions: 'dot-art: Schools', in partnership with Edge Hill University, and 'Fresh Perspectives', a bi-annual exhibition of inspiring artworks by young people from Wirral secondary schools.

'dot-art: Schools', also coming to Walker Art Gallery from 4 June - 6 July 2025, features an inspiring range of artworks created by pupils from primary, secondary and SEND schools across the Liverpool City Region and beyond.

'Fresh Perspectives', at Lady Lever Art Gallery from 15 February - 27 April 2025, features a range of paintings, drawing, sculpture, mixed media and photography, and explores the students’ creative responses to a variety of themes.

Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool, said:  

John Moores Painting Prize represents a special opportunity for artists to showcase their talents, so we are looking forward to welcoming the 63rd instalment into Walker Art Gallery. As with Kathryn Maple, we are happy to be able to present the work of Graham Cowley, and hope the further opportunities that winning the prize provides can give even more inspiration to artists who submit their work.

Keeping with the theme of inspiring people through art, we are delighted to welcome back dot-art: Schools and Fresh Perspectives, which celebrates, nurtures and encourages the artistic talents of young people and engagement with arts and culture outside the classroom.

If you can’t wait until next year, there’s plenty going on at National Museums Liverpool in the meantime, not least 'Bees: A Story of Survival' at World Museum and 'The Holly Johnson Story' at Museum of Liverpool.

Opening at Lady Lever Art Gallery this weekend (Saturday 26 October), 'Bedazzled' shines a spotlight on the lasting appeal of beaded and sequinned dresses, featuring a range of garments from the 1920s to the 1980s.

Discover the sweet history of Taveners, a beloved Liverpool confectionery company founded in 1885 at 'Sweet: The Taveners Story', opening at Museum of Liverpool on 16 November.

Other current exhibitions and displays include 'Conversations', 'Stitching Souls: Threads of Silence' and 'Now you see me: Chris Day' at Walker Art Gallery, all part of National Museum Liverpool’s Black History Month season.

To be the first to hear about NML’s exhibitions and to go free and first into special exhibitions, sign up to become a member today at liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/members.