Exhibitions in London
February 2027
February at a glance: 3 exhibitions opening, 13 closing, and 19 more on view across the city.
Opening in February
Jacqueline Marval2 FebDulwich Picture Gallery
The first UK museum exhibition dedicated to French painter Jacqueline Marval (1866-1932), bringing together over 40 paintings and lithographs, many never before exhibited, including one of the earliest known female nude self-portraits.
Sahara Longe16 FebDulwich Picture Gallery
A solo display responding to Van Dyck's Venetia, Lady Digby on her Deathbed: new figurative paintings by Sahara Longe exploring love, loss, grief and heartbreak.
Monet: Painting Time25 FebTate Modern
Tate's first exhibition devoted exclusively to Claude Monet, bringing together paintings from lenders worldwide to explore his engagement with time, from instantaneous Impressionist moments to the Water Lilies series.
Closing in February
Nicole Eisenman5 FebRoyal Academy of Arts · Free
A major new courtyard sculpture by New York-based artist Nicole Eisenman, installed in front of Burlington House.
Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, the Fox, the Mole, the Horse... And You7 FebDulwich Picture Gallery
The first UK museum show by author-illustrator Charlie Mackesy: never-before-seen early sketches and original works from The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.
Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends7 FebNational Portrait Gallery
Photographer Tim Walker celebrates the UK's LGBTQ+ trailblazers in a fantastical exploration of queer identity, community and love.
Audrey Amiss: The Surviving Exhibitions7 FebWellcome Collection · Free
The first museum show of Audrey Amiss (1933-2013): drawings, paintings and other works through which she spoke out against harmful treatment within the mental health system.
Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility7 FebWellcome Collection · Free
Multidisciplinary artworks by Rudy Loewe reimagine mental healthcare, centring the lived experience of Black people whose UK care is shaped by racist discrimination.
Yinka Shonibare and Thomas Gainsborough: A Conversation7 FebNational Gallery · Free
Yinka Shonibare's contemporary response shown alongside Thomas Gainsborough's 'Mr and Mrs Andrews'. Free to all visitors.
The 90s: Art and Fashion14 FebTate Britain
Curated by Edward Enninful, a major show on how 1990s British art, fashion and photography fused into one cultural force, with Hirst, Lucas, McQueen, Westwood and Teller.
Cecilia Vicuña: Living Threads14 FebWhitechapel Gallery
The first major UK survey of the Chilean artist, poet and activist, spanning six decades of work that dissolves boundaries between art, poetry, performance and ritual. Includes a companion participatory installation, Foraging Quipu.
Inji Efflatoun: The Poetics of Justice14 FebWhitechapel Gallery
The first significant UK exhibition of the Egyptian modernist, tracing how she fused painting with lifelong activism for social and political justice.
British Wildlife Photography Awards21 FebHorniman Museum · Free
Award-winning British wildlife photography spanning animal behaviour, botanical subjects, urban wildlife and marine life, with captions giving context for each image.
Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography21 FebTate Modern
Over 50 artists trace pictorialism, the first international art photography movement, from the 1880s to the 1960s across the globe.
Robert Ryman: The Real Thing28 FebBarbican Centre
Major retrospective of over 60 works by American painter Robert Ryman, whose largely white, square canvases invite a closer look at materials and surface.
Childhood in War28 FebImperial War Museum · Free
The UK's first exhibition on how war has shaped children's lives from 1914 to today, told through personal objects, immersive set pieces and much-loved children's books.
Also on through February
Gathering Groundto 7 MarTate Modern · Free
A collection display bringing together works by artists including Abbas Akhavan, Abel Rodríguez and Zheng Bo, exploring the connection between environmental and social justice.
Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrongto 7 MarHayward Gallery
A major solo show by the American photographer and activist, spanning five decades of intimate work on relationships, addiction and queer subcultures, alongside four recent films including the public debut of a new work.
Andrius Arutiunian: They Tried to Count Usto 14 MarHayward Gallery · Free
The Armenian-Lithuanian artist's first UK solo show, reconstructing a fragment of an unfinished radio anechoic chamber from an Armenian radio telescope alongside sculptures and a new sound piece exploring myth and cosmic phenomena.
Peggy Guggenheim in Londonto 14 MarRoyal Academy of Arts
Explores Guggenheim's short-lived Guggenheim Jeune gallery (1938-39) and how it introduced avant-garde art to London.
Dame Vera Lynn Collectionto 2 AprImperial War Museum
A selection of Dame Vera Lynn's personal objects, including letters, correspondence and uniform items from her recently acquired Second World War archive, on display for 12 months near the entrance to the Second World War Galleries.
Es Devlinto 4 AprDesign Museum
The first UK retrospective of artist-designer Es Devlin's 30-year practice in sculpture, performance, language and light, with maquettes and new commissions.
Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsburyto 11 AprTate Britain
The 50-year creative partnership of Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, with over 300 works and a recreation of their studio at Charleston in Sussex.
Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atouito 11 AprTate Modern · Free
The 11th annual Hyundai Commission fills the Turbine Hall with a site-specific installation by artist and composer Tarek Atoui, blending music, technology, sculpture and performance into multisensory environments.
Van Eyck: The Portraitsto 11 AprNational Gallery
For the first time in history, all of Jan van Eyck's surviving painted portraits brought together in one exhibition.
Metamorphoses: Porcelain Sculpture by Rachel Kneeboneto 25 AprWallace Collection · Free
Acclaimed artist Rachel Kneebone presents nine white porcelain sculptures throughout the Wallace Collection's galleries, including two newly created works, in dialogue with the museum's historic decorative arts.
Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nationto 25 AprScience Museum · Free
Marking 250 years since US independence, this exhibition reveals the science behind the nation's founding through maps, paintings and instruments from the 1760s to 1790s.
Art deco: the golden age of poster designto 30 AprLondon Transport Museum
Over 100 original London Transport posters mark the centenary of art deco, with work by design greats like McKnight Kauffer and Jean Dupas, plus Charles Holden's Tube architecture.
Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action.to 3 MayTate Modern
An immersive retrospective of seven decades of kinetic and interactive works, with light sculptures and geometric paintings that turn viewers into participants.
American Photographsto 16 MayVictoria and Albert Museum · Free
A free display drawn from the V&A's US photography collection, revealing the breadth of the country's photographic traditions from early prints to contemporary work.
Tenderness and Rageto 30 MayWellcome Collection · Free
A display exploring HIV and AIDS through stories of protest and care, from the UK's 1980s-90s epidemic to global activism today, via photography, film and archives.
NINAGAWA Mika: Captive Bloomsto 1 JunThe Photographers' Gallery · Free
A free outdoor exhibition of Mika Ninagawa's vibrant, dream-like photographs of blooming flowers and goldfish that dissolve the boundary between real and imagined.
Wildlife Photographer of the Yearto 11 JulNatural History Museum
Back for another year with 100 new images: the world's best nature photography, from polar landscapes to tropical rainforests, displayed in an immersive exhibition of award-winning shots.
The Bayeux Tapestryto 11 JulBritish Museum
The 70-metre tapestry depicting the 1066 Norman invasion, shown in the UK for the first time in almost 1,000 years.
The Nue Black Aestheticto 8 AugDesign Museum
Major exhibition celebrating contemporary Black designers reshaping British design across furniture, architecture, fashion and installation.
Stay in the loop on London
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.