September 2026
September opens Gifted at the City Art Centre, a new display of recent gifts to the city's Scottish art collection. Gwen John's first major retrospective in over forty years runs at Modern Two, Catherine Opie's portraits fill the Royal Scottish Academy, and Anne Hardy's installation at Talbot Rice closes on 27 September.
Permanent guide to September 2026 →
City Art Centre · Opens 12 September
Paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs recently given to the city's collection, from Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and John Bellany to Ian Hamilton Finlay and Jessie M. King. New this month and free.
National Galleries Scotland: Modern (Modern One & Modern Two) · Until 4 January
The first major Gwen John retrospective in over forty years, marking 150 years since her birth, with rarely seen drawings and watercolours shown alongside her paintings at Modern Two.
National Galleries Scotland: National · Until 1 November
Nearly 80 photographic portraits from 30 years of Catherine Opie's work, her first solo show in Scotland, touring from London's National Portrait Gallery and hung in the Royal Scottish Academy.
National Museum of Scotland · Free
Over 200 objects trace conflict in prehistoric Scotland from the Neolithic to the arrival of Rome, including six Bronze Age shields and the richest Iron Age warrior burial yet found.
Fruitmarket · Until 11 October
Eva Rothschild fills all three Fruitmarket galleries with bronze, plaster, steel and concrete sculpture that plays off the visitor's body in the room. Free, and on until mid-October.
Talbot Rice Gallery · Closes 27 September
The Georgian Gallery becomes 'Feelings': sculptural beings, light driven by the weather in Marfa, Texas, and a new sound landscape. The gallery opens on Sunday 27 September for the final day.
Dynamic Earth
Seasonal live planetarium show: in-house astronomers replay the recent eclipse, tour the autumn constellations and fly to the heart of the Milky Way.
City Art Centre · Free
Recent gifts and bequests to the city's Scottish art collection: paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs by Barns-Graham, Bellany, Crowe, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Jessie M. King and more.
Surgeons' Hall Museums
A 70-minute guided walk through the Old Town — chloroform tea parties, pioneering women, grave robbing and Burke and Hare — with museum entry included. Weekends at 14:00 to 29 November 2026; age 10+.
City Art Centre
The largest show to date of Sandra George (1957-2013): over 200 photographs of community, identity, activism, home and young lives, plus personal artefacts.
Talbot Rice Gallery · Free
Anne Hardy turns the Georgian Gallery into 'Feelings', an immersive installation of sculptural beings, weather-driven light from Marfa, Texas, and a new sound landscape.
Jupiter Artland
Turner Prize winner Tai Shani's luminous blue sleeping figure in the orchard, paired with The Dream, a 24/7 radio broadcast on dreaming as radical imagination.
Museum of Edinburgh · Free
Photography and film by five young people in kinship care, made over a 12-week multimedia programme — close observation of details we usually overlook, from perspectives often seen but rarely heard.
City Art Centre · Free
Celebrates the bequest that bought 1,000+ artworks for Edinburgh, with works by Fergusson, Redpath, Eardley, Paolozzi, Blackadder and Alison Watt. Part of RSA200.
National War Museum · Free
How WWII military maps became personal keepsakes: silk escape-and-evade maps, aerial photography, war diaries and a dress made from escape maps. Final weeks.
Fruitmarket · Free
Major show by London-based Irish sculptor Eva Rothschild across all three galleries: bronze, plaster, steel and concrete works staging bodily encounters with space.
Jupiter Artland
Irish artist Sgàire Wood's Steadings Gallery commission turns heraldic beasts and pop-culture icons into a frank but hopeful look at heritage, tradition and violence.
Stills: Centre for Photography · Free
First major survey of documentary and portrait photographer Jillian Edelstein, spanning four decades of everyday lives and pivotal historical moments.
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait · Free
Over 50 photographs and digital animations (1995-2018) by Wendy McMurdo on childhood, learning and computers, including never-before-seen work. Her biggest show to date.
Edinburgh Printmakers · Free
Jamie Fitzpatrick probes Edinburgh's statues, monuments and civic decoration through bronze-pigment screenprints and sculptures that puncture monumental authority.
Edinburgh Printmakers · Free
Berlin-based Ukrainian duo Etchingroom1 (Kristina Yarosh and Anna Khodkova) present whimsical, socially sharp etchings, sculpture and mixed media about love, death and money.
National Galleries Scotland: National
Nearly 80 photographic portraits spanning 30 years by American artist Catherine Opie, her first solo show in Scotland, touring from London's NPG. At the Royal Scottish Academy.
Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh · Free
Seeing soil through art: 30+ artists mark 300 years since geologist James Hutton's birth with paintings, sculpture, ceramics and photography on the living ground beneath our feet.
Dovecot Studios · Free
Still lifes, botanical studies and prints by Elizabeth Blackadder alongside tapestries and rugs from her 50-year collaboration with Dovecot, incl. the new rug The Red Bouquet.
The Writers' Museum · Free
Writing produced in creative workshops responding to objects from the city's collections, shown alongside the museum's literary displays.
Dynamic Earth
A year of activities marking 300 years since the birth of James Hutton, father of modern geology and of "Deep Time", including the Scotland's Time Lords gallery.
Dovecot Studios
Costumes, accessories and sketches from London costume house Cosprop, founded by John Bright in 1965, from Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey and A Room with a View.
National Museum of Scotland · Free
Over 200 objects trace conflict in prehistoric Scotland from the Neolithic to Rome, including six Bronze Age shields and the richest Iron Age warrior burial yet found.
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.
