Our purpose is to reveal and rethink the ways we live, in order to live better together. We want our collections to provoke discussion and reflection about different meanings of home. The Museum has concentrated on collecting paintings directly connected to the history of the home. The main strength of the collection is a steadily growing group of paintings depicting urban middle-class homes and gardens, which includes an early, particularly well-documented conversation piece by Thomas Bardwell from 1736 and Frank Stanton’s painting of his own Islington home in 1968. As well as providing evidence of the material culture of domestic spaces, such as detailed depictions of furnishings and decoration, many of the paintings provide insights into the values, interests and concerns which have informed the domestic life of this particular social group. In addition, examples of paintings that could have been purchased by middle-class consumers for their own homes have been acquired for display in the period rooms. The museum is now closed for a two-year transformational development project, reopening in September 2020. Please visit our website for more information.