Exhibitions in London
November 2026
November at a glance: 8 exhibitions opening, 9 closing, and 46 more on view across the city.
Opening in November
Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, the Fox, the Mole, the Horse... And You3 NovDulwich 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.
Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 20265 NovNational Portrait Gallery
The Gallery's flagship photography prize — now sponsored by Winston Taylor and renamed the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026 — returns with the best contemporary portrait photography from emerging talents and established names.
The Nue Black Aesthetic6 NovDesign Museum
Major exhibition celebrating contemporary Black designers reshaping British design across furniture, architecture, fashion and installation.
Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury12 NovTate 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.
Peggy Guggenheim in London21 NovRoyal Academy of Arts
Explores Guggenheim's short-lived Guggenheim Jeune gallery (1938-39) and how it introduced avant-garde art to London.
Van Eyck: The Portraits21 NovNational Gallery
For the first time in history, all of Jan van Eyck's surviving painted portraits brought together in one exhibition.
Andrius Arutiunian: They Tried to Count Us24 NovHayward 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.
Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrong24 NovHayward 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.
Closing in November
Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art1 NovImperial War Museum · Free
As bombs fell on 1940s London, artists responded. Over 45 paintings and drawings, with photographs, film and oral histories, capture a city both familiar and strange.
- Halloween at the Tower of London1 Nov
Tower of London
October half-term event: step into a world of chilling tales and dare to face the spirits that roam the Tower. Included in palace admission.
Art Now: Mohammed Z Rahman8 NovTate Britain · Free
British-Bengali artist Mohammed Z Rahman presents a two-act display exploring home, love and connection through paintings inspired by personal stories and memories, shown alongside works from the Tate collection.
- This Must Be the Place: Artists for Whitechapel Gallery8 Nov
Whitechapel Gallery
A special exhibition and sale marking the gallery's 125th anniversary, featuring 24 international artists working primarily in painting, with proceeds supporting the gallery and artists.
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends15 NovVictoria and Albert Museum
A behind-the-scenes look at Aardman's stop-motion animation, revisiting Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph. At Young V&A.
Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art15 NovVictoria and Albert Museum
The UK's first exhibition on Elsa Schiaparelli, tracing the surrealist designer's influence from the 1920s to today and the house's revival under Daniel Roseberry.
Winston Churchill: The Painter29 NovWallace Collection
A major retrospective of over 50 of Sir Winston Churchill's paintings, from wartime scenes and Mediterranean landscapes to intimate views of his home at Chartwell.
The Coming of Age29 NovWellcome Collection · Free
Over 150 artworks and objects explore how experiences of ageing across all life stages are shaped by environment, culture and society, and what greater longevity means.
Declaring Independence: USA 25029 NovBritish Museum · Free
Marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, this Room 3 display uncovers the Indigenous and global histories behind the founding of the United States through treaties, diplomatic gifts and resistance.
Also on through November
Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deepto 3 JanNatural History Museum
Dive back in time to meet the fiercest marine reptiles ever to swim the oceans, from giant ichthyosaurs to plesiosaurs, in this immersive deep-sea exhibition.
Frida: The Making of an Iconto 3 JanTate Modern
Over 30 iconic works by Frida Kahlo alongside contemporary pieces, exploring her rise into a global cultural and commercial phenomenon.
Sir Richard Owen: A Natural Legacyto 4 JanNatural History Museum · Free
A free display on the life of Sir Richard Owen, the Victorian zoologist and palaeontologist whose vision led to the creation of the Natural History Museum, featuring previously unseen artworks, personal publications, and archival photographs.
Salman Toor: Someone Like Youto 10 JanCourtauld Gallery
The New York painter's first European solo museum show, around 20 paintings exploring queer and immigrant life, with a companion drawings display.
- Salman Toor: Drawingsto 10 Jan
Courtauld Gallery
A focused display of works on paper — ink, charcoal, gouache — showing how drawing is central to Toor's practice: border checkpoints, still-life compositions, and reinterpretations of historical paintings. Shown in the Drawings Gallery alongside the main solo show.
Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacificto 10 JanVictoria and Albert Museum
A landmark V&A collaboration with Brisbane's QAGOMA, showcasing over 40 contemporary artists and First Nations perspectives from across Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
The Music is Black: A British Storyto 10 JanVictoria and Albert Museum
An immersive sound exhibition spanning 125 years of Black music-making in Britain, with over 120 tracks tracing excellence, struggle, resilience and joy.
The Music is Black: A British Storyto 10 JanV&A East Museum
125 years of Black music-making in Britain. An immersive audio experience spanning four continents, telling a story of excellence, struggle, resilience and joy.
Justin Caguiat: Change Ringingto 10 JanSerpentine Gallery · Free
Justin Caguiat's first major UK exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, printmaking, sound and film in a site-responsive installation, including thermochromic paintings that shift with heat and light and bronze bells that ring in continually changing sequences.
Ana Mendietato 17 JanTate Modern
Newly remastered films, early paintings and late sculptures by the Cuban-American artist, including her Silueta series, many never seen in the UK.
Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji from the Iuchi Collectionto 17 JanDulwich Picture Gallery
Hokusai's complete Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, shown in the UK for the first time courtesy of the Iuchi Collection, including the iconic Great Wave.
Michael Landy: Future Ruinsto 17 JanSir John Soane's Museum · Free
Michael Landy's meticulous watercolour and pen drawings imagining iconic buildings, including Soane's own museum, as overgrown future ruins.
Tate Britain Commission 2026: Zineb Sedirato 17 JanTate Britain · Free
British-French-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira creates a major site-specific installation for the Duveen Galleries, exploring memory, migration and displacement through photography, performance, video and installation.
Winifred Gill: A Bloomsbury Pioneerto 20 JanCourtauld Gallery
The overlooked contributions of Winifred Gill (1891–1981), central figure at Roger Fry's Omega Workshops — toy designs, still life painting, and prints tracing her work as an arts and crafts educator.
Yuko Mohri: In Concertto 24 JanBarbican Centre · Free
Japanese artist Yuko Mohri transforms The Curve with a site-responsive commission exploring states of flux and acts of repair via light, sound and kinetic sculpture featuring Barbican objects.
The RA Collectionto 29 JanRoyal Academy of Arts · Free
Diploma Works and treasures from the RA Collection spanning over 300 years, shown free in the historic John Madejski Fine Rooms while the main Collections Gallery is expanded. Closed on select dates (21 Jul, 11 Aug, 4 Sep, 2 Oct, 6 Nov, 4 Dec 2026).
Painting the French Rivierato 31 JanRoyal Academy of Arts
Monet, Matisse, Dufy and others capture the light and colour of the Cote d'Azur in this survey of the French Riviera's pull on modern painters.
Amar Kanwarto 31 JanSerpentine Gallery · Free
A major solo exhibition of new and existing films by New Delhi-based artist Amar Kanwar, transforming Serpentine North into a meditative visual and sonic environment exploring displacement, nationalism and memory.
Renoir and Loveto 31 JanNational Gallery
The most significant UK exhibition of Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 20 years, tracing love and affection in his art, including 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette'.
By Appointment Only: Romani Art, Culture & Heritageto 31 JanLondon Museum · Free
A rotating display in the Reflections Room featuring British Romani artists Corrina Eastwood, Delaine Le Bas and Dan Turner, celebrating the livelihoods, creativity and craft of Romani communities alongside a historical timeline from 500 CE to 2022.
Koreato 31 JanBritish Museum
Two thousand years of Korean creativity in sculpture, painting and decorative arts, from around 300 BC to today, the most comprehensive survey seen in Europe in 40 years.
Nicole Eisenmanto 5 FebRoyal Academy of Arts · Free
A major new courtyard sculpture by New York-based artist Nicole Eisenman, installed in front of Burlington House.
Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legendsto 7 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 Exhibitionsto 7 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 Possibilityto 7 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 Conversationto 7 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 Fashionto 14 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 Threadsto 14 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 Justiceto 14 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 Awardsto 21 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 Photographyto 21 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 Thingto 28 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 Warto 28 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stay in the loop on London
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.