The Wild Men of Arenig reunites pioneering artists at Parc Howard Museum New exhibition brings the Wild Men of Arenig to Parc Howard Museum

A new exhibition, The Wild Men of Arenig: James Dickson Innes | Augustus John | Derwent Lees, opens at Parc Howard Museum, Llanelli on 4 July 2026 and runs until 10 January 2027. The exhibition explores the remarkable artistic community that developed in the Arenig Valley in North Wales between 1910 and 1913 and celebrates the artists who helped shape modern Welsh art.

Highlights of the exhibition include Innes’ atmospheric Arenig Mountain, on loan from the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, and Lees’ snow-capped Arenig Mawr, from the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent. On show in public for the first time is a recently purchased watercolour by Innes of Kidwelly Castle, which was bought for the museum in 2025 following a major fundraising effort led by the Friends of Parc Howard Llanelli Museum, with donations from Llanelli Art Society, Llanelli & District Civic Society, and local individuals.

The Wild Men of Arenig explores how these three artists - Innes, John and Lees – responded to the international Post-Impressionist art movement in a particular way unique to Wales. The bold colour and emotion of their landscapes expressed personal experience as much as place. The exhibition examines the Arenig community's bohemian lifestyle and the influence of the women, including Euphemia Lamb and Dorelia McNeill, who helped shape its creative vision.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism, Cllr Hazel Evans, said:

We are delighted to bring this high-quality art exhibition to Parc Howard Museum. Augustus John and James Dickson Innes were among the most significant Welsh artists of the first half of the twentieth century who achieved national and international recognition and helped to shape the direction of modern British art.

We are particularly pleased to display the newest acquisition to the museum collection, the painting of Kidwelly Castle by the Llanelli-born artist James Dickson Innes, and are deeply grateful to the museum’s volunteers and local supporters who made this purchase possible.”

For more information about the exhibition and opening times, visit the CofGâr website or by following CofGâr on social media.