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Category: Scientific Research

Arts & Culture
May 21, 2026
Daubs and Distractions

The Wallace Collection’s Winston Churchill: The Painter, supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, invites visitors to look beyond Churchill’s public image and consider the discipline, pleasure, and persistence behind his art. The exhibition presents painting as a serious and sustaining part of Churchill’s life, beginning after the political crisis of 1915 and continuing across decades of public service. Rather than treating the works as historical curiosities, the show follows Churchill’s engagement with color, composition, and place, from the gardens and pools of Chartwell to the coastlines and landscapes he returned to throughout his life. It also places his work within a broader artistic context, acknowledging the guidance and influence of professional painters while allowing audiences to judge the paintings on their own terms. In doing so, the exhibition offers a more intimate view of a figure often understood primarily through politics and wartime leadership. The Foundation’s support helps make this reflective cultural presentation accessible to a wide public, deepening understanding of how artistic practice can illuminate history, character, and resilience.

Arts & Culture
May 21, 2026
Tentacles, Pointy Teeth and the T-Rex of the Sea: the Natural History Museum on Beasts that Once Ruled the Oceans

The Natural History Museum’s Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep, supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, invites audiences beneath the surface of the prehistoric seas that once covered much of the planet. Through fossils, casts, and immersive displays, the exhibition introduces the marine reptiles, ammonites, ancient sharks, and other species that shaped ocean ecosystems more than 66 million years ago. Highlights include a plesiosaur skeleton, ichthyosaur specimens, and the skull of a mosasaur, helping visitors understand how these animals lived, hunted, and adapted. The exhibition also connects deep time with the present, showing how past changes in climate and marine life can illuminate the pressures facing today’s oceans. By linking scientific discovery with public engagement, the show encourages visitors to consider both the richness of prehistoric marine worlds and the fragility of ocean ecosystems today. The Foundation’s support helps make this research-led exhibition accessible to broad audiences, advancing public understanding of natural history, evolution, and environmental change.

Arts & Culture
May 20, 2026
Admit It, Art Snobs: Winston Churchill Was a Surprisingly Decent Painter

The Wallace Collection’s exhibition Winston Churchill: The Painter, supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, offers a fresh reassessment of Churchill’s artistic practice. Although Churchill began painting only in midlife, following the Dardanelles campaign in 1915, he became deeply committed to the medium and produced more than 500 oil paintings over the course of his life. The exhibition brings together nearly 60 still lifes and landscapes, focusing on the subjects through which Churchill found creative focus and personal respite. Particular attention is given to his Moroccan landscapes, including his 1943 view of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, painted during the Second World War and later given to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The show also highlights Churchill’s attention to light, landscape, and reflection, including recurring views of the grounds at Chartwell. The Foundation’s support helps bring this lesser-known dimension of Churchill’s life to wider public attention, inviting audiences to consider the relationship between art, history, leadership, and private creative practice.

Arts & Culture
May 19, 2026
PBS Gears up for the 250th with a Rebroadcast of ‘The American Revolution’

PBS will mark the nation’s 250th anniversary with a renewed presentation of The American Revolution, the six-part documentary series directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, made with support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. First broadcast last fall after nine years in production, the series offers a broad examination of the people, ideas, and conflicts that shaped the founding of the United States. From May 25 through July 12, the series will stream for free on PBS platforms, expanding public access to a major work of American history. PBS will also rebroadcast the series twice, including a July 4 marathon aligned with the semiquincentennial. The Foundation’s support reflects its commitment to advancing access to rigorous, widely available cultural and educational programming. The broader PBS lineup will explore American history through documentaries, genealogy, science, and material culture, inviting audiences to revisit the Revolutionary era with fresh attention to its complexity, legacy, and continuing relevance.

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The Blavatnik Archive is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to preserving and disseminating materials that contribute to the study of 20th-century Jewish and world history, with a special emphasis on World War I, World War II, and Soviet Russia.

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