The Purpose of Art

What Ashridge House reminded me about why we fill our homes with art

Exhibition: The Art Collections at Ashridge House, Hertfordshire, UK

Visited: August 2026

Recently, I had the privilege of viewing the private art collection at Ashridge House, a former royal residence of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The Egerton collection has its roots in 1604, spans more than 400 years of history and is predominantly made up of traditional oil portraits. At first glance, this feels distinctly separate from Haven and Hue’s focus on contemporary abstract works but despite the style of the artwork differing from Haven and Hue’s focus, the reasons we decorate our homes with art are still familiar. For centuries people have chosen to surround themselves with art, and while the nature and subject of the artwork may change, the reasons we display art aren't necessarily so different today. Long before photography, portraits preserved a person's likeness and became a way of recording history. Commissioned works reflected status and success but also created homes that told a story. Guests could walk in and immediately sense something about the people who lived there. We may not often commission portraits anymore, but we still choose art that reflects who we are, complement our homes, and create spaces that feel meaningful, welcoming and uniquely ours.

Often art is viewed in exhibitions, in large, white gallery spaces. My visit to Ashridge House allowed me to view a curated collection in a home, in a real lived-in environment with visual distractions - furniture, stairways, columns, doorways. This allowed me to view the works with context of the room, and the architecture and interior design of the building itself, while moving organically through the house. When considering curation of artwork, the space the pieces will be shown is as relevant as the work itself. The art must work cohesively with the environment it sits within. And we can view the architecture of the building as art itself. In Ashridge House I noted many decorative features, incorporated into columns, archways, doorways, that all formed part of visual impact of the space. These are all interesting lenses to view a curated artwork collection through.

During my visit to Ashridge House, I was left with an appreciation that whether in the context of a historic house, or that of a modern home, a piece can stand alone and make a statement, but the real magic is when it is viewed as part of a collection. A single artwork can anchor a room, but it is the group of works that builds rhythm and conversation. It made me think about how curation matters. Where the art that is chosen to decorate a home forms a collective narrative on how we wish to feel, emotions we wish to convey, a commentary on our personality. I was also left with a sense that placement matters. Choosing to display a prominent single work is a statement, grouping several smaller pieces together can create a narrative. A consideration of light is also important, and the nature of the room in which the artwork sits. We will discuss this idea in more detail later in this series.

A final takeaway which felt especially relevant after my visit to Ashridge House, was the consideration of art as legacy. The historic portraits were about memory and status, about saying “we were here”. But the collection has evolved and become more than just static history. It’s expansive. Ashridge House’s art collection has continued to expand, even in recent years. The collection now holds several pieces by Ronnie Wood, the Rolling Stones drummer, following an exhibition of his work in 2020. A curated collection isn’t static, it can expand and evolve, sometimes, as in the case of Ashridge House, over centuries. That feels just as relevant now, when we choose a painting or a sculpture for our home. It's a personal expression, a way of leaving something behind, something lasting, but also paving the way to evolve in the future. We should be looking at art as more than decoration, and considering it as something that holds memory, identity, and connection which can span generations.