Wed 25 Feb
|Southampton City Art Gallery
A Skeleton Key to William Blake
Join artist and writer Christopher Bucklow for February's illustrated talk.
Time & Location
25 Feb 2026, 10:30 – 11:30 GMT
Southampton City Art Gallery, Civic Centre, Commercial Rd, Southampton SO14 7LY, UK
About the event
This illustrated talk opens a door onto William Blake's highly inventive symbolism and idiosyncratic attitude to his Christian religion.
Blake said "I MUST Create a System or be enslav'd by another Man's", meaning he needed to build an independent critical position. This affected every aspect of his poetry and painting.
Blake noticed that the conflicts within his own mind seemed also to be reflected in the great international events of his age: the American and French Revolutions. For him, the personal was political. So, we can never be entire sure if his work is describing his own psychology or the great international conflicts of his time.
Christopher Bucklow is an artist and writer.
About the event:
We're meeting in the Lecture Theatre, Southampton City Art Gallery.