The Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art is nestled in a former arrowroot factory in the island’s Botanical Gardens in Paget. Founded approximately 30 years ago, it was initially established as a pipe dream when founder and creative director Tom Butterfield returned to the island after studying photography and working in Toronto, Canada. The idea behind the Museum started small. Begun as part of the 1984 heritage month celebrations it developed into a temporary exhibition showcasing works on loan from overseas institutions and individuals. At the time, one of the main draws was Andrew Wyeth’s watercolour entitled “Royal Palms“. From then on, Butterfield made it his mission to repatriate and collect important works of art inspired by or created in Bermuda.

The Town of St George has been an inspiration for artists and photographers long before the current influx of social media influencers. Today, it is the most Instagram-friendly location on the island, but for years, this beautiful little town has provided the source of inspiration for many artists – including several famous ones – and many of these pieces are now housed at Masterworks.

Despite the passage of time, many of the vistas and vantage points found in the paintings remain instantly recognisable. Take Ogden Minton Pleissner’s “St George’s” painted in 1950 and which records the view looking down over the roofs of the town taken from Duke of Kent Street near the Unfinished Church, or Catherine Tucker’s “A Street Scene in St George’s” which was painted in 1934 along Water Street. Many of the buildings illustrated in her painting exist today.

The beauty of the little Town of St George continues to act as a muse and inspiration for creatives today as much as it did 100 or even 200 years ago. These amazing works of art as well as more than 1,600 other pieces of local and international artwork can be viewed at Masterworks.