Matthew Lanyon Archive

This archive is a unique repository of significant artwork, knowledge and ideas rooted in West Cornwall by the Cornish artist Matthew Lanyon (1951-2016). 

Born in St Ives, Matthew was the third child of painter, Peter Lanyon (1918-1964). Matthew's prolific body of work includes large-scale paintings exploring  his life and contemporary culture . Whilst painting is the medium for which he is best known, his wider body of work involved experimental films, installations, 3D sculptures and photography, made in and around his elaborate polytunnel studios in West Penwith. 

He began to work as a full time artist in 1988, obsessively investigating family relationships, myth, symbolism, ancient art and landmarks, language, climate and environmental catastrophe, typewriters and television, art tourism,  space,  poetry, love, grief, sensuality, mortality and the concept of time. You can find here short films and audio recordings made by Matthew and pieces made about him since his death.