Don’t miss out on the best exhibitions in London. From the latest blockbuster art shows to up and coming artists, find the best exhibitions in London here.
There are some incredible exhibitions in London at the moment. Current highlights include a major exhibition on the ultimate accessory – handbags – at the V&A, the largest collection of privately owned Banksy works in the world and Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain, which explores how J.M.W Turner captured the advances and inventions of the Industrial Revolution, like steam boats and railway engines, in his work, as well as the big political events of his day.
Tracey Emin has been a fan of Edvard Munch (you know him for The Scream) since she was 18 and she’s exploring her love for the Expressionist painter with this exhibition at the Royal Academy. She’s selected oils and watercolours by Munch to sit alongside over 25 of her own works, including paintings, neons and sculptures that explore the loneliness of the soul, so you can see how he has been an inspiration for her.
Alice in Wonderland has captured people’s imaginations ever since the tale was first published 157 years ago, and this major exhibition at the V&A explores the origins and adaptations of Alice over the years. The Design Museum is diving into the world of sneakers with their major exhibition Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street. You’ll be able to see how kicks evolved from specific athletic activities to cultural symbols and check out some of biggest collabs and high-fashion takes on trainers.
During the pandemic David Hockney captured the season of spring by producing new works on his iPad from his home in Normandy, and now a year after they were made, the pieces are going on show at the Royal Academy
It’s been ten years since Amy Winehouse passed away and to honour the anniversary, as well as celebrate her life, Phil Griffin is showing never-before-seen artworks of the singer-songwriter at the Brownsword Hepworth Gallery. Amy In The Light features re-imagined photos of Amy taken by Griffin, from the time he started working with her as a creative on her Back to Black album in 2006.
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience has been a hit in the States in the US and Europe and now it’s coming to Spitalfields. The exhibition will see more than 300 of Van Gogh’s works projected across a floor-to-ceiling two-storey space so you’ll be able to soak up the art from all angles. There’ll also be a drawing studio and a VR experience that takes you through a day in the life of the artist and explores the inspiration behind some of his most iconic paintings.
Ahead of its debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Somerset House is celebrating skateboarding culture and its impact on the UK over the past 45 years with the free exhibition No Comply. Spanning three themes – the city as playground, skateboarding communities, and DIY culture – and featuring film, sound, art, photography, fashion, design and archive material, the show will explore the country’s diverse skateboarding scene and the influence it has had on the worlds of fashion, video games and beyond.
Hang-Up Gallery is celebrating women in contemporary art with their exhibition Game Changers: Renegade Artists Defying Convention. Featuring works by the likes of Tracey Emin, Yayoi Kusama, Bridget Riley, Swoon, Nancy Fouts and Nina Chanel Abney, the show honours the females who have redefined modern art despite the barriers they faced compared to their male counterparts.
The immersive Van Gogh Alive, which has toured in over 65 cities worldwide, is coming to Kensington Gardens this summer. This exhibition will feature over 3000 images of his iconic works projected using state-of-the-art technology alongside a classical score, a sunflower selfie room, and a 3D recreation of Van Gogh’s paintings of his bedroom.
The Saatchi Gallery is hosting the largest ever solo exhibition on French street artist JR, and his first major show in the UK, featuring some of his most iconic pieces from the last 15 years. JR’s global projects tackle issues like gun control, women’s right’s and immigration and JR: Chronicles covers his early career documenting graffiti artists in Paris to his large-scale photographs pasted on buildings and in public places to his recent digitally-collaged murals.
Walthamstow Wetlands is teaming up with the William Morris Gallery to host an exhibition on Finnish artist and Moomins creator Tove Jansson called The Woman Who Fell In Love With An Island, exploring the relationship between the island of Klovharun in the Gulf of Finland where she had a home and her work, and also what we can learn about nature and conservation from the Moomins. A selection of Jansson’s photographs, nature studies and writings will be on display in the Wetlands’ Engine House along with an outdoor art trail, and you’ll also able to download an audio composition from multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper that features a recording of Jansson’s essay ‘The Island’, spoken by her niece Sophia Jansson.
The Science Museum is hosting a major exhibition on carbon capture and storage, which will be open in the run up to COP26. Our Future Planet will showcase some of the cutting-edge tech and nature-based solutions being developed to hep remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce the impact of climate change, and explore how carbon can be held in storage or used to create everyday items like toothpaste or vodka. Objects on display include the Climeworks Direct Air Capture machine, the first prototype mechanical tree that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, and apparatus from the UK’s BIFoR FACE experiment, which models the impact of climate change on forest ecosystems.
The Design Museum is diving into the world of sneakers with their major exhibition Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street. You’ll be able to see how kicks evolved from specific athletic activities to cultural symbols and check out some of biggest collabs and high-fashion takes on trainers. The exhibition will also explore the design processes behind some of the most inventive shoes on the market, including the Adidas FutureCraft robot and Puma’s work with Biorealize, and the resale market with data visualisations from Stock X. Naturally there’ll be a lot of shoes on display but there’ll also be visual work from the likes of Jamel Shabazz, Grace Ladoja, Simon Wheatley and Reuben Dangoor on show too.
Prepare to see the brightest colours ever created at Kew Gardens this summer at new major exhibition Naturally Brilliant Colour. Cutting-edge tech Pure Structural Colour, developed by the Lifescaped lab, can synthetically produce any shade of colour from the natural world in its most vivid form and the Kew team are really bigging it up, saying it has to been seen to be believed. As well showcasing Pure Structural Colour and featuring a large-scale kaleidoscope with an ever-changing projected image, the exhibition will explore the origins of colour and how botanical artists like Robert John Thorton and Julia Trickey have depicted colours found in nature.
After being delayed a year by the pandemic (the exhibition was meant to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the British postcard), Wish You Were Here is finally on show at the Postal Museum. The exhibition explores the history of the postcard and the way that the cheaper and faster method of correspondence has connected people over the years. Everything from saucy seaside cartoons to notes from WWI to Victorian declarations of love will be on show alongside contemporary works from artists like Emily May, Francesca Colussi Cramer and Guy Atkins.
Epic Iran at the V&A will explore one of the greatest civilisations in history and showcase over 5000 years of Iranian art, design and culture. Over 300 objects across sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography and film from the Persian Empire to the 1979 Revolution and beyond will be on display, reflecting the myths, traditions and religions that have been central to Iranian culture and identity for thousands of years.
During the pandemic David Hockney captured the season of spring by producing new works on his iPad from his home in Normandy, and now a year after they were made, the pieces are going on show at the Royal Academy. The 116 works have been ‘painted’ on an iPad and then printed on paper, larger in size than the screen they were made on so you can see his strokes in greater detail.
The Barbican is hosting the first major UK exhibition on French artist Jean Dubuffet in over 50 years. Brutal Beauty will feature more than 150 of his works from four decades, spanning portraits, lithographs, enamel paintings and giant canvases, alongside works from his own collection of Art Brut. As well as highlighting his experimentation with tools and materials, the exhibition will also showcase how he rebelled against conventional ideas of beauty and work to capture life in a more authentic way.
A massive Banksy exhibition is coming to London featuring 80 of the artist’s original works. The Art of Banksy, which has toured from Melbourne to Miami, is not authorised by the artist and therefore not curated in collaboration with him (not really Banksy’s style is it?) so all the pieces on show are loans from private collectors. In fact, the exhibition will display the world’s largest collection of privately owned Banksy works. Prints, screenprints, sculptures, canvasses and other unique pieces from 1997 – 2008 will be on show, ranging from the iconic ‘Girl and Balloon’ ‘Flower Thrower’ and ‘Rude Copper’ to artworks rarely seen by the public.
Alice in Wonderland has captured people’s imaginations ever since the tale was first published 157 years ago, and this major exhibition at the V&A explores the origins and adaptations of Alice over the years. Over 300 objects will be on display in the immersive show, from Lewis Carroll’s original handwritten manuscript, Disney illustrations and Tim Burton sketches to photographs from Annie Leibovitz and Tim Walker to clothes by Vivienne Westwood. Ready to go down the rabbit hole?
The V&A is celebrating the ultimate fashion accessory; the bag. Over 300 pieces, from the 16th century to today, will be on display including Winston Churchill’s dispatch box, Margaret Thatcher’s Asprey handbag, a Fendi baguette featured in Sex and the City, a Hermes Kelly, and a Lady Dior. The exhibition not only explores how bags are made but what they come to represent.
After her pumpkin-filled Infinity Room caused lengthy queues at the Victoria Miro gallery in 2016, Yayoi Kusama returns with another major exhibition, this time at the Tate Modern. Two of her installations – the large Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life and Chandelier of Grief, which gives the illusion of endless rotating chandeliers – this year. The rooms will be presented alongside a small collection of photographs, some of which will be going on display for the very first time.
Newport Street Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition on Damien Hirst, featuring over 50 pieces from early in his career, covering his time as a student in the 80s and his rise to leading contemporary artist in the 90s, including many rarely shown together. As well as works from series like Natural History, Spot Paintings, Spin Paintings and Medicine Cabinets, End of a Century will also feature some pieces that have never been exhibited before, like ‘Up, Up and Away’, three ducks suspended in formaldehyde; ‘Waster’, a vitrine filled with medical waste; and large-scale pill cabinet ‘Prototype for Infinity’.
This exhibition at Tate Britain explores how J.M.W Turner captured the advances and inventions of the Industrial Revolution, like steam boats and railway engines, in his work, as well as the big political events of his day. Major Turner pieces from around the world have been brought together for the show, including The Fighting Temeraire and Rain, Steam and Speed, so it’s a must for any Turner fans.
You’ve read the books, seen the films and now you can step inside the world of Fantastic Beasts with this exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Inspired by the wizarding world, this display explores the wonders of the natural world that have inspired myths and legends for centuries.
