Kurt Schwitters Merzbarn, Ambleside

Hugely influential in the development of contemporary art, sculpture and architecture, Hanover born artist Kurt Schwitters spent the final three years of his life living and working largely unrecognised in a small Cumbrian village, after moving to live in the Lake District with his English partner Edith Thomas in 1945.

Schwitters struggled to earn a living by painting portraits of local people and Lake District landscapes. In 1946 he bought a small farmers shed on the Elterwater Gunpowder Works in Langdale as his studio, where he worked until his death in 1948. The barn remains largely intact and has recently been renovated and opened to the public.