Free Gerard Ceunis show at North Herts Museum in Hitchin runs to 6 December: paintings by the Belgian refugee who ran a Market Place dress shop. Hours and events.
A free exhibition of paintings by Gerard Ceunis, the Belgian refugee who settled in Hitchin and ran a dress shop in its Market Place, is open at North Hertfordshire Museum until Sunday 6 December. Hitchin is about five miles north-west of Stevenage.
Painting with light: the art of Gerard Ceunis opened on 3 October. North Herts Council announced it on 30 September, and the museum lists it on its exhibition page.
Who Gerard Ceunis was
Ceunis was born in Ghent and died in 1964. He was one of the many thousands of Belgians who fled to Britain after Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914. The council notes that Letchworth Garden City was one of the country’s main refugee centres at the time.
In Hitchin he opened Maison Gerard, a women’s clothes shop in the Market Place. The council says it was a success, and that he quickly became a familiar face in the town.
The two official accounts do not quite agree on the dates:
| North Herts Council | North Herts Museum | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | 1884 | 1885 |
| Came to Hitchin | at the outbreak of the First World War | in the late 1920s |
The museum’s version reads as the refugee arriving in England during the war and moving to Hitchin later. The new catalogue, below, is the place to settle it.
What is on the walls
The show brings together:
- oil paintings of local scenes from the museum’s own collection
- rarer works lent by a private family collection
- his early Belgian Impressionist paintings
Much of his work follows a style called Luminism. It is about the way light changes, at dawn and dusk and on water. The painting at the top of this page, of St Mary’s Church by night with its reflection in the water, shows what that means.
A new illustrated booklet by Rosamond Allwood and Martin Robb is on sale in the museum shop. The council says it includes new research and family photographs.
Belgium’s ambassador to the UK, Jeroen Cooreman, is guest of honour at a private view in October. The council points out that a Belgian ambassador also opened Ceunis’s London exhibition, in 1930.
“We are delighted to showcase the work of Gerard Ceunis, an artist with a special place in Hitchin’s history,” said Councillor Tamsin Thomas, the council’s executive member for enterprise.
Mindfulness morning, 18 November
The museum is running a guided “slow looking” session in the exhibition on Wednesday 18 November at 9.45am, before it opens to the public. Its event page gives the details:
- doors open at 9.30am
- £4 a person, booked online
- the session centres on one painting, then you can look round at your own pace
- your ticket gets 10% off in the museum café that day
What it means for you
- When: until Sunday 6 December. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.30pm, and Sunday, 11am to 3pm. Closed on Mondays.
- Where: North Hertfordshire Museum, Brand Street, Hitchin SG5 1JE.
- Cost: free, for the museum and the exhibition.
- Questions: the museum is on 01462 474554.
- Half term: with Hertfordshire schools off next week, it is a free, indoor option close to home, though not on Monday 26 October. Our October half term page has more.
For more around the town, see things to do in Stevenage.
Sources
- North Herts Council, “Belgian native, Hitchin local”, 30 September 2026, for the dates, opening hours, the booklet, the ambassador’s visit and the quote.
- North Herts Museum, Painting with light, checked 20 October 2026, for its account of Ceunis’s life and the exhibition contents.
- North Herts Museum, mindfulness session, checked 20 October 2026.
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