RONNIE WOOD

The Jimi Hendrix Portraits Opens at Handel Hendrix House

Ronnie Wood: The Jimi Hendrix Portraits will feature two new, unseen original portraits of Jimi Hendrix in his flat on Brook Street by Ronnie Wood alongside prints of much-loved paintings inspired by photographs of Jimi.  

The pictures will be shown for the first time in Hendrix’s own home at 23 Brook Street, Mayfair, now the Handel Hendrix House museum from Wednesday, September 30, 2026, until Sunday, April 11, 2027. Entry is included in the admission price.  

“Without doubt it’s an honour and an absolute delight to be unveiling my two new portraits of Jimi Hendrix along with five other works capturing Jimi in action at the Handel-Hendrix House in Mayfair. There couldn’t be a better location to have an exhibition and display my work than Jimi’s house in London’s Brook Street” said Ronnie Wood

He continues: “I first met Jimi in 1966 when he first arrived in London, totally unknown at the time. We shared a flat together for a little while in Holland Park and became friends. It wasn’t long before he stunned us all with those outstanding first performances especially one at the Bag of Nails club in Soho. I’ve created the moment I witnessed the great man on stage in one of the paintings to be exhibited. Jimi’s immense & unique talent took guitar playing to another planet and I hope the paintings capture all that and more.”

As Simon Daniels, Director of Handel Hendrix House explains: “At Handel Hendrix House, our aim is to celebrate Jimi Hendrix’s life, music and influence by opening up his London home on Brook Street, with live music and through our collections.  Ronnie Wood is an iconic figure in contemporary rock and roll who not only knew Hendrix, but also played with, and even lived with him.  His unique perspective as both an artist and a musician allows him to capture the spirit and energy of Jimi’s live performances with his brush and offers a truly personal tribute to the legend he knew.  We are excited to be sharing with our visitors this collection in the place Jimi called home, particularly never-before-seen artworks of Hendrix relaxing in his Brook Street flat.”

Growing up in a musical and artistic family, Ronnie Wood took up the guitar in his teens, but his interest in painting began earlier in his childhood. He eventually followed the footsteps of his two older brothers by studying at Ealing Art College. Today, his works have been exhibited and enjoyed around the world. For Wood, music and art have always been closely intertwined, and his portraits capture the energy and spirit of his bandmates and a host of iconic cultural figures who collided with his own remarkable life and career. When on Desert Island Discs at the end of 2025, he chose artist materials as his luxury item. 

Wood first met Hendrix while playing bass for The Jeff Beck Group in America. Hendrix joined their jam sessions, and particularly admired Wood’s playing. He would say, ‘Hey Jeff, let the bass player have a solo’. Later, Wood and Hendrix shared fellow musician PP Arnold’s flat in Holland Park for a couple of weeks, along with a Basset Hound named Loopy. Living together was short-lived because Arnold was quick to tell them the dog had to go, or they would. Wood remembers Hendrix as a quiet and very sweet man, noting he would casually play the guitar both right- and left-handed but was surprisingly insecure about his voice.

Biography: 

Ronnie Wood is one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists and a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before joining the Rolling Stones in 1975, he performed with other influential bands, including The Creation, The Jeff Beck Group, and Faces. He has also crafted a masterful solo career. 

The house is open Wednesday – Sunday 10.00 – 17.00 (last entry at 16:00). Tickets are £14.50 for adults, £10.50 for students and free for the under 12s. Tickets can be purchased in advance on the website www.handelhendrix.org but it is possible to buy a ticket on the day at the museum. Nearest Tube: Bond Street

ABOUT HANDEL HENDRIX HOUSE 

The live music at Handel Hendrix House is generously supported by The Thistle Trust, The Garrick Charitable Trust, and Chapman Charitable Trust.

Handel Hendrix House cares for and presents to the public the homes of two of the greatest musicians ever to have lived in London. George Frideric Handel lived at 25 Brook Street from 1723 until his death in 1759. It was here that Handel wrote and rehearsed his greatest works, including Messiah and its ever popular ‘Hallelujah chorus’ – perhaps the most famous piece of classical music ever written.  His stirring anthem ‘Zadok the Priest’, was also written in Brook Street and has accompanied the coronation of every British monarch since George II (for whom it was written in 1727), including HM King Charles III.

In 1968, Jimi Hendrix moved into an adjoining flat at number 23.  Here, in the only place he said he felt truly at home, Hendrix entertained, inspired, and collaborated with other icons of British 60s rock music.

Handel Hendrix House has completed a £3million project to open all of Handel’s house to the public for the first time by restoring the basement and ground floor by faithfully recreated Handel’s basement kitchen with all its fixtures and fittings, carefully detailed on research and an inventory made shortly after the composer’s death.

Also
· Restored the ground floor parlours in which Handel would receive his guests and aristocratic patrons and in which his assistant, J.C. Smith, would sell tickets and subscriptions to new works.  
· Restored the front façade of 25 Brook Street so that visitors can finally enter Handel’s home through his front door.

New things to see in Handel’s house include:
· Historic rooms presented as they might have been in the 1740s, when the composer was in a new burst of creative energy and commercial success writing dramatic oratorios.
· Recently acquired works of art, creating a collection representative of the more than 100 works of art Handel owned in Brook Street.
· New exhibitions about Handel’s music and the musicians he worked with and a mixed reality audio-visual display about the writing of Messiah in the very room in which it was composed.

In 2016, Jimi Hendrix’s flat in 23 Brook Street was brilliantly restored and opened to the public. To be enjoyed as a contrasting and complementary part to a visit to Handel’s home, the Hendrix experience at Handel Hendrix House has been expanded as part of the Hallelujah Project:

· For the first time, visitors can walk up and down the stairs to his flat, where George Harrison famously had to step over one of Jimi’s other visitors who had passed out en route to the exit.
· A new exhibition features a film showing visitors exploring Hendrix’s legendary guitar technique and his influence on musicians and creatives, with high quality sound supported by Bang & Olufsen
· The film includes material uncovered by Handel Hendrix House through their national ‘Your Experience’ appeal for memories, images and stories of people’s encounters with Jimi Hendrix across the country.

A guide to Handel Hendrix House is now available on Bloomberg Connects, which can be translated into 12 different languages including French, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Russian, Korean, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese. Details of the house can be found https://guides.bloombergconnects.org/en-US/guide/handelHendrixHouse