The Hepworth Wakefield Reviews

A unique art park with works by Adam Smith, Barbara Hepworth, Kim Soyoo, Damien Hirst, Henri Moore. An all-round art experience!

A really great collection and a great building with a good cafe. No entrance charge

Stunned by and striking architectural building housing some fantastic artwork and other great facilities

Fantastic place. Not much culture in Wakefield but this is amazing.

Always interesting and inspiring to visit. Always great to see new exhibitions. Gravitate towards to Barbara Hepworth moulds. Please display more of the moulds if you have them.

Modern architecture, with surrounding old buildings being restored. Kids activities as well as art, and a unique city center ish location.

Has some interesting artwork. Awesome little shop and nice cafe.

Good combination of permanent artistic content e.g. Hepworth, and changing temporary exhibitions. The "full Yorkshire" breakfast will fill you up if you are hungry

Amazing gallery for Wakefield. I realise that sculpture isn't everyone's cup of tea there are works that have a broader appeal. For example the new light installations are a great interactive experience for families. The cafe is also really nice.

Not my cuppa. Seemed to lack something. A bit boring.

Art in wakefield, well i never, Babs isnot my fave but no matter, place and time, use it or loose it.

Liked the gallery, temporary exhibitions so check what's on.

Really lovely gallery. Great to see how Barbara Hepworth made her works, plus the other artwork in the gallery. There is a handy carpark and linking bridge to get you over the river, plus a new garden which I will look forward to using on a More

Nice venue for a conference. Briefly looked at the exhibits which were fascinating during the lunch break. Would definitely go back.

Great museum, always something new to see. Lots of activities for kids including a big playground.

The exhibitions are ok but the building itself is an architectural masterpiece with an outstanding landscape integration worth visiting at any cost. Probably the best piece of contemporary architecture I seen In UK with the Tate Museum!

Fantastic for a local museum and absolutely wonderful location. Got genuine hepworth macquettes as well. Not as big as I was expecting, and I would recommend the Yorkshire sculpture park first if you only have time for one .

Found it a very pricey and to be honest was a bit boring

Beautiful gallery space, great coffee shop that serves North Star coffee (exceptionally good - worth travelling for) often has vegan cakes too that are yummy!
Hepworth gallery also runs great events throughout the year such as ceramics fairs, Christmas markets and workshops so well worth checking their website in advance to see what is on!

Went there in the weekend to appreciate Hockney s early work. Really helpful staff. Good lay out. Accommodating family needs as there were mini art stations for children to doodle and read.
In terms of architecture, the hepworth was a state-of-an-art.

Lovely cafe, great facilities for families and children with lots of activities for young people. Wonderful galleries and love the fairs that happen in the old mill.

Always a good place to visit. Regular interesting exhibitions and permanent collection is v good too. Current Anthony McCall is amazing!

Good day out. An art day which included young children. Nice restaurant, good service and a play park in the grounds.

Brilliant place, very friendly and accessible for all. Free entry, cheap parking, great atmosphere and well presented exhibitions. Well worth a visit!

Sorry but 99% of it looks like emperor's new clothes to me. But what do I know, I feel the same about cup cakes and Stockhausen.

Excellent day out, amazing gallery and beautiful building. Highly recommended.

Just fabulous, great day out, activities for the children.

Some fascinating works. Thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Lovely gallery with good access and parking. Obviously dependant on current exhibitions but plenty to see with good exhibits steeped in art history.

Such a great gallery right on our doorstep, I will deffinately be returning.

My absolute favorite art gallery. Well done, Barbra Hepworth.

Went to watch my Grandson in theatre there. Set in a lovely position just off the centre of Wakefield. Parking is just over a large footbridge but not cheap.

Decent cafe and meals and gallery to enjoy whilst there.

Amazing how inclusive this gallery is you don't need to be an art critic to enjoy the changing exhibitions. Yet its art collection is first class. Lots for kids to do 8ndide and out including an outside playground with a roundabout I challenge anyone to give a go! A really good cafe serving a great afternoon tea.
But I love just looking out o the vistas

This purpose built gallery is an excellent space to explore and experience art works in.

It's quite a while since I've been here but wasn't impressed at all by the exhibits. There was one Barbara Hepworth thing made of lengths of aluminium angle and sheet bolted together which didn't impress and a lot of small and uninteresting pictures and sculptures. There was an exhibit of hundreds of pebbles laid out on the floor which I didn't understand, and a pile of children's shoes I looked at a while before realising a group of visiting children had been asked to remove their shoes. Also should say the car parking prices were very high.
Having said that, I asked about work by Mark Senior a 19th century local artist whose sold at high prices all over the world and was my mums uncle. They had quite a few but non on display, but arranged a private showing which was a great experience.

Some installations are hit and miss, but occasionally there are pieces of artwork that are just stunning.

What a great place to visit! I would definitely recommend.

Family friendly, really like the events and craft displays. Fab art on show

Worth a visit. Very interesting with some good art and a nice cafe.

Sculpture (and paintings), in an iconic building. Wonderful location literally in the river with the medieval Chantry Church just opposite. The attendants will help explain the sculptures if asked. I love it all the more with repeat visits, there s always something new to look at with visiting exhibitions, and regularly new stuff in shop. Good coffee and food. Looking forward to walk from Wakefield centre being improved, Wakefield is on the up. Love it.

Incredible, one of the best recently redeveloped art galleries in the UK. Free but worth paying for the temporary exhibitions, which take place in a very large area of the museum.

Good exhibition space which changes regularly and it's free too.

Excellent new exhibition just opened....such deep creativity

Interesting visit especially enjoyed the work of Alina Szapocznikow. Avoid the cafe though, very expensive, and sausage sandwich comprises burnt sausages, stale bread and a fight to get any butter!

Lovely art gallery but overly expensive to park and you are not allot touch any of the exhibits which look so tactile and could form part of the experience.

Beautiful informative , good cafe ,more for older children

Really great gallery in Wakefield. Great modem art and a fab cafe. Would definitely recommend the pies! All produce sourced locally. Living in Leeds I wish that this gallery was in the city. Nice area outside for kids if they get a bit bored of the gallery.

Free to get in to the main part and some exhibitions are free as well. The cafe is nice, a little on the expensive side but to be expected and not too bad considering rest of the gallery is free. Food is amazing

Open and airy gallery. Free. Nice views from the building. Cafe a bit pricey. School holiday activity this week was great!

I have long been a follower of the Hepworth on twitter and have wanted to visit in person. It was easy to find as it is well signposted in Wakefield. The first problem came when I tried to park, we were on our way to a wedding in Northumberland so had taken out motor caravan which is 10ft 2" high, the car park had a height barrier so we were effectively barred from that and there were no signs to a suitable alternative! I found my way onto a nearby trading estate and managed to park, my 88 year old mother then had to walk further than expected to get to the Hepworth. We crossed the Calder navigation to go into the impressive building and went into the nice and spacious restaurant to have a very pleasant morning coffee before our tour of the museum. The museum itself is an impressive structure with light and airy exhibition spaces allowing you to study the artworks. The majority of the work is by the two well known artists Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore but there is a good selection of other artists including Ben Nicholson and Jacob Epstein to name just two. It is indeed an impressive building with equally impressive contents. Enjoy!

Great day out in picturesque surroundings featuring extensive sculpture and artwork by Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Lowry & Christina Quarles. Really striking pieces and narratives of the life story of each artist. Lovely adjoining cafe and shop. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

Once you get passed the outside. The space inside and the staff are very pleasant . And it's definitely a positive thing to have in Wakefield

Outstanding collection of Hepworth, Moore and others plus visiting artists.

Absolutely disgusted how they treat disabled children. My daughter was looking forward to going to the Gallery because of her strong interest in art but her day had been spoiled by her group of children with various disabilities were spoken out of turn by stuck up staff and the school was forced to move it's minibus from the appropriate space which meant the children some like my daughter which has various physical issues had to walk much further and not so direct to get to and from the facilities. Nothing they can do now can change my view on how sickening a place like this can treat disabled children. If I could give them less than one star I would.

A striking though to me distinctly unattractive building in a fantastic setting. The cafe serves good food and has interesting views over the weir. As for the art - well, it's very subjective, isn't it, not the sort of thing that does More

Exciting building and thoughtful presentation of artwork

Really accessible for everyone in our group regardless of age. So important that places like this exist engaging people into the arts. Our kids were given great activities going round the galleries which made both my wife and I look at the works with different eyes. As a bonus we came home with a couple of, genuinely, really nice creations from the kids.

Wakefield's impressive modern art gallery. Multifunctional rooms with permanent and temporary exhibitions. They usually have children's art activities on weekends and holidays. Staff are helpful. Excellent playground. Some mixed experiences in the cafe with poor service and overpriced food and drink (best take a picnic).