Samuel Beckett at the National Gallery

The Nobel Prize-winning playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett spent 1934 and 1935 living in London. During this time, when not writing his first published novel 'Murphy', he could often be found in the National Gallery, where he indulged his passion for painting.

Drawing on the Beckett Archive at Reading University, this lecture will examine the paintings to which Beckett was drawn, and consider how such images informed his work.

Dr Conor Carville is Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature at the University of Reading.

Lunchtime talks

On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, focus in on one painting with our talks in the Gallery, or explore wider themes in the collection at our in-depth theatre talks.

Image above: The National Gallery during the Second World War