Painting their life: Diana Armfield and Bernard Dunstan

Published 14 December 2015

Royal Academician Diana Armfield tells us about a creative partnership that has stood the test of time.

  • Whether at home or abroad, Academicians Diana Armfield and Bernard Dunstan have been painting in each other’s company for 65 years. Over time, their ways of working have evolved to be complementary, as Diana explains in the video below. Living and working with a fellow artist means having a constant source of advice and support, and each allows the other the space to specialise – as Diana says, “he rather handed the landscape over to me”. Both are still busy producing work in their 96th year.

    Their exhibition in the Belle Shenkman room at the Royal Academy, Painting From Life – Painting Their Life, is the latest in our Academicians in Focus series. The works featured in the exhibition are part of the Royal Academy’s Art Sales portfolio.

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    Diana Armfield on her life with Bernard Dunstan

    We visited Academicians Diana Armfield and Bernard Dunstan at their home in Kew, Surrey.