More Than 80 Hidden Iris Murdoch Artworks Discovered After Decades

OXFORD — A remarkable artistic discovery has revealed a previously unknown side of celebrated British novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, with more than 80 artworks found hidden inside a concealed room at her former Oxford home.

The collection includes surrealist landscapes, nude studies, family portraits and Murdoch's only known self-portrait. The works were discovered by Dr Miles Leeson, director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre.

Created mainly between 1939 and 1941, while Murdoch was studying at Oxford during the Second World War, the artworks offer a new perspective on a writer better known for her novels, philosophy and intellectual work.

The discovery could significantly broaden understanding of Murdoch's creative life.

The paintings and drawings show her engagement with surrealism while also reflecting personal and social themes, including sexuality and the unsettled political atmosphere surrounding Europe during the war.

Twenty-five works from the collection are now being shown publicly for the first time in an exhibition titled “Iris Murdoch Amongst the Artists” at the University of Chichester Library.

The exhibition will remain on display until December 10, 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to see a largely unknown part of Murdoch's artistic development.

The discovery is particularly significant because Murdoch is one of Britain's best-known twentieth-century novelists. Her books explored morality, relationships, philosophy and human behaviour, while her academic work established her as an influential philosophical thinker.

The newly uncovered artworks suggest that visual creativity was also an important part of her early intellectual development.

For researchers, the collection provides additional material for examining the relationship between Murdoch's visual imagination and the themes that later appeared throughout her literary career.

The exhibition also offers a rare glimpse into the private creative world of a major British writer whose artistic ambitions remained largely hidden for decades.

What was once a secret room has now become an unexpected new chapter in Iris Murdoch's cultural legacy.