Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust at the Queen's Gallery

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day - and a new exhibition has opened at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust

This special display has been 

• commissioned by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales - who is Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust,
• pays tribute to the stories of seven remarkable Holocaust survivors, each of whom has in recent years been honoured for services to Holocaust awareness and education.
• is on view at the Queen's Gallery every Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday until Sunday, 13 Feb 2022.

The Prince of Wales, who is Patron of the National Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, commissioned seven leading artists to paint the portraits as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women and children who lost their lives in the Holocaust and whose stories will never be told. The profoundly moving portraits, which will become part of the Royal Collection, stand as a powerful testament to the extraordinary resilience and courage of those who survived.

Duchess of Cornwall with Holocaust survivor Helen Aronson (centre) 

and her family, and artist Paul Benney (right) beside the portrait of Helen 

during an exhibition at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, of 

'Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust'

Sitters and Artists

The sitters and artists are:

• Helen Aronson BEM painted by Paul Benney
• Lily Ebert BEM painted by Ishbel Myerscough

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A post shared by Ishbel Myerscough (@ishbelmyerscough)

• Manfred Goldberg painted by Clara Drummond - who I interviewed back in 2016 Interview with Clara Drummond - Winner of BP Portrait Award 2016
• Arek Hersh painted by Massimiliano Pironti - who won 3rd prize in the BP Portrait Prize 2019 and who I'm photographed with in this post and who I wrote about in BP Portrait Award 2018 - Artists with their paintings. It'll be lovely to see him again in the BBC documentary tonight (see below)

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A post shared by Massimiliano Pironti (@massimilianopironti)

• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch - a surviving member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz - painted by Peter Kuhfeld RP NEAC
• Rachel Levy painted by Stuart Pearson Wright 
• Zigi Shipper BEM painted by Jenny Saville RA

It was a great privilege to paint this portrait of Rachel Levy as part of the exhibition, Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust,⁰runs from Thursday, January 27th until Sunday, February 13th 2022⁰at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. pic.twitter.com/yorL92NnX1

— StuartPearsonWright (@StuartPWright) January 27, 2022

You can see:

• three of the portraits on the exhibition web page
• a documentary programme Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust
  about the commission at 9pm tonight on BBC2 . It traces the year long project. 

Throughout the programme, we hear the testimonies of the remarkable men and women who were children when they witnessed one of the greatest atrocities in human history, as well as meeting the artists as they grapple with their paintings. We see some of the sittings and witness the touching friendships that have emerged between artist and sitter over the course of nearly two years. 

The finished portraits, destined for the Royal Collection, will be unveiled at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace. They represent pain and loss as well as dignity and hope, and serve as a lasting reminder of horrors which will one day be lost to living memory.