Sean Scully to Discuss Constable Affinities at Yale Center for British Art on October 28
The Facts
Sean Scully, the renowned British painter, will join Martina Droth, Paul Mellon Director of the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA), for an intimate conversation on October 28, 2026, from 5–6 pm ET at the YCBA Lecture Hall in New Haven. The discussion will focus on Scully's recently discovered affinities with John Constable, exploring parallels in their artistic practices. Scully moved to Hampstead in 2021, over two centuries after Constable settled there in 1819, and for two years walked across Hampstead Heath daily to his studio, the same landscape that inspired Constable.
The Signal
The conversation highlights a cross-generational dialogue between two painters who share a deep connection to place and materiality. Scully, born in Dublin, recognizes in Constable a kindred spirit shaped by the same dark, wet light and a tonal color sense. Their mutual interest in nature, particularly shadows and the horizon lines of land, sea, and sky—Constable called sky “the chief organ of sentiment”—underscores how landscape can evoke emotion. The event offers collectors and curators insight into Scully's practice through the lens of art history, reinforcing the YCBA's role in fostering such dialogues.
- Artists: Sean Scully, John Constable
- People: Martina Droth
- Museums: Yale Center for British Art
- Locations: New Haven
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