Birmingham’s Barber Institute of Fine Arts will close again at the end of this month to allow the next major phase of essential building improvements to get under way.

The Midlands’ very own mini National Gallery, located on the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston campus, contains masterpieces by most of the major names in Western art. So if you’d like to check out artwork by the likes of Gainsborough, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Rodin, Rossetti, Rubens, Toulouse-Lautrec and Turner, you have until the 26th of the month (it’s a Sunday) to do so. 

The gallery is also currently hosting a world-first exhibition. A multi-sensory exploration of how Victorian-period artists depicted aromas and smells in art, Scent And The Art Of The Pre-Raphaelites features a unique scent experience: three new perfumes have been created especially for the show to help bring to life two of the paintings.

Other current exhibitions to check out before the gallery closes include Peace And Noise: Sounds Of The Landscape and Unstill Life - an exploration of the history of still-life painting: the expansion of empire, global trade and consumerism.

The Barber will re-open its doors in spring 2026.