Join us for a special evening with award-winning writer Damian Barr in conversation with Simon Martin, Director of Pallant House Gallery, as they discuss Barr’s new novel The Two Roberts, a powerful reimagining of the lives of artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde and a Best Fiction Book of 2025 for The Guardian, The Observer, The Herald and the BBC.
Set against the backdrop of 1930s Glasgow and spanning the cultural capitals of Europe, The Two Roberts is a moving and vivid portrait of love, art, and the price of visibility. This discussion will explore many of the themes in Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists, exploring the complex relationships and struggles of two extraordinary artists featured in the exhibition.
Expect a thought-provoking conversation on creativity, queerness, artistic legacy and the continuing relevance of the Roberts’ story today. The event will include an audience Q&A and book signing.
Damian Barr | The Two Roberts:
Scotland, 1933. Meet Bobby MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: artists, lovers, outsiders. Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow – its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city – all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Freud, Bacon and Smart.
A stunningly reimagined story of devotion and obsession, art and class, The Two Roberts is a love letter to two almost-forgotten artists who tried to change the way the world sees – and paid a devastating price.
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