What's on in London
August 2026
August at a glance: 4 exhibitions opening, 11 closing, and 79 more on view across the city.
Opening in August
Materiality6 AugSaatchi Gallery · Free
A group show of over 20 artists exploring how glass, metal, textiles and found objects become active participants in artworks, celebrating texture, weight and surface.
RPS International Photography Exhibition 1677 AugSaatchi Gallery · Free
The 167th edition of the world's longest-running photography exhibition, showing 113 prints by 48 photographers on themes of environment, identity, conflict and memory.
The Raw & The Cooked7 AugSaatchi Gallery · Free
Eleven contemporary artists draw on medieval traditions to examine spiritual uncertainty and political upheaval, reflecting a cultural shift away from the digital and back to the handmade.
Imagining Animals19 AugTower of London · Free
A family experience bringing extraordinary creatures to life through puppetry, music and dance across the Tower.
Last chance
Summer Exhibition 202623 AugRoyal Academy of Arts
The 258th annual open-submission show fills the Main Galleries with works in every medium by famous names and unknowns alike, coordinated by Ryan Gander.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting23 AugSerpentine Gallery · Free
In his first Serpentine exhibition, David Hockney invites viewers to slow down and notice the extraordinary in the everyday, including the 90-metre frieze A Year in Normandy.
Hurvin Anderson23 AugTate Britain
British-Jamaican painter Hurvin Anderson's first major solo show: over 80 colour-drenched landscapes and interiors exploring memory, place and belonging.
nora chipaumire: Gadzi23 AugTate Modern · Free
An Infinities Commission installation in the East Tank: handmade sculptures of wood, wire and cardboard, with film and mbira-based sound design, exploring Zimbabwean mythology and ancestral resilience.
Zurbarán23 AugNational Gallery
The first major UK monographic exhibition devoted to Francisco de Zurbarán, master of the Spanish Golden Age, with visions from Baroque Seville.
Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies24 AugBritish Museum · Free
A masterpiece of early Chinese figure painting, dating from the fifth to seventh century AD, displayed annually for a limited period in Room 91a with free timed-entry booking.
Young Artists' Summer Show 202630 AugRoyal Academy of Arts · Free
A free exhibition of work by young artists aged 5 to 19 from across the UK, selected from open submissions and shown in the Weston Studio.
The Ropery30 AugWhitechapel Gallery · Free
A participatory exhibition exploring the history of rope making in East London, with hands-on activities in rope making, spinning and knot tying.
Take One Picture 202631 AugNational Gallery · Free
Children's artworks from across the UK inspired by Canaletto's 'A Regatta on the Grand Canal'. Free to all visitors.
Tracey Emin: A Second Life31 AugTate Modern
A major survey of four decades of Tracey Emin's work across painting, video, textiles, neons, sculpture and installation, with works never shown before.
The Barber in London: Highlights from a Remarkable Collection31 AugCourtauld Gallery
Masterpieces from Birmingham's Barber Institute, including works by Hals, Rubens, Turner, Rossetti and Degas, on extended loan during its refurbishment.
Also on through August
Future of Foodto 1 SeptScience Museum · Free
Explore how science could transform the way we grow, cook and eat, from a 3,500-year-old loaf to lab-grown meat, across 100+ objects in this family-friendly exhibition.
To the Stars: Illuminating the Art Collection in 50 Worksto 1 SeptRAF Museum · Free
Fifty key works by 20th-century British and European artists, marking the museum's 50th anniversary and exploring flight, conflict and RAF operations through art.
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafricato 6 SeptBarbican Centre
Over 300 works tracing Pan-Africanism's influence on art and culture from the 1920s to today, featuring artists including Chris Ofili, Marlene Dumas and Claudette Johnson.
In Other Worldsto 6 SeptBarbican Centre
Speculative architect Liam Young's immersive exhibition of films, soundscapes, costumes and installations imagining hopeful future worlds shaped by technology and climate.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portraitto 6 SeptNational Portrait Gallery
Celebrating the Hollywood icon's 100th birthday through portraits by the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
- Backyard Biennial: Eastto 6 Sept
Whitechapel Gallery · Free
An eight-week, free summer festival across East London with exhibitions, installations, performances, workshops and residencies celebrating the region's creative communities.
Cecily Brown: Picture Makingto 6 SeptSerpentine Gallery · Free
Cecily Brown presents new paintings inspired by Serpentine's location in Kensington Gardens, a site of personal significance to the artist.
Hepworth in Colourto 6 SeptCourtauld Gallery
The first exhibition exploring Barbara Hepworth's pioneering use of colour, uniting around 20 sculptures and 30 drawings spanning her career.
Gabriel Chaile: Archaeology of Memoryto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile's site-specific installation of adobe sculptures holds objects sourced from the East End, evoking an archaeological dig into local memory and identity.
OITIJ-JO Collective: TUFANto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
Named after the Bangla word for storm, this seven-artist show explores upheaval and renewal through the lens of Begum Rokeya's feminist sci-fi vision.
Fozia Ismail: A Song for the Xeedho – The Knot Makersto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
An interactive installation centred on the Xeedho, a climate-threatened Somali wedding basket, exploring knots as bonds and how memory passes among nomadic women.
East of the Aldgate Pumpto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
Twelve local, national and international artists respond to East London's historic and cultural identity across painting, sculpture, photography, film and installation, organised around migration, city life, and food and heritage.
John Smith Film Programmeto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
A daily screening of films spanning five decades by artist John Smith, whose genre-defying work challenges the line between documentary, fiction and abstraction, drawing on East London locations and personal experience.
East End Voices Film Programmeto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
Hour-long film blocks showcasing East London communities, drawn from Four Corners, the London Community Video Archive and OITIJ-JO Collective, spanning radical histories, community arts legacies and contemporary womxnhood.
Common Rooms Displaysto 6 SeptWhitechapel Gallery · Free
A free communal space with three interactive displays: the Migration Museum's story-sharing installation, a Material Crimes podcast listening station, and a special edition of Whitechapel Radio Station.
processing…to 6 SeptSerpentine Gallery · Free
Serpentine's Education Space becomes an open archive of the gallery's work at the intersection of art and advanced technologies — audio recordings, photographs, publications and digital commissions exploring blockchain, AI and game engines.
The Sun and The Moon: Art Inspired by the Celestialto 8 SeptSaatchi Gallery
A major exhibition exploring how the sun and moon have inspired creativity and belief across cultures and history, with artworks, monumental sculptures and immersive installations.
Through a Queer Lens @ Manchester Jewish Museumto 11 SeptJewish Museum London
Photographic portraits and personal stories celebrating LGBTQ+ Jewish life, developed by Jewish Museum London and shown at Manchester Jewish Museum.
Studio Prints: An Artists' Workshopto 13 SeptCourtauld Gallery
Prints by Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Paula Rego from Studio Prints, the legendary London printmaking workshop founded in 1968 by Dorothea Wight.
Sayuri Ichida: Playing the Piano Upstairsto 13 SeptThe Photographers' Gallery · Free
Luminous handcrafted photogravure prints on washi paper exploring memory, grief and the photographer's relationship with her sister through snowy rural Japan.
Monet and Renoir: Painting Side by Sideto 15 SeptNational Gallery · Free
Two celebrated paintings from La Grenouillère, made by Monet and Renoir working side by side in 1869, reunited for the first time in nearly twenty years. Free to all visitors.
Design Researchers in Residence: 2025/26 Mineralto 20 SeptDesign Museum · Free
Free display of new work by the 2025/26 Design Researchers in Residence, responding to the theme of 'mineral'.
Early Netherlandish drawingsto 20 SeptBritish Museum · Free
Around 120 rare drawings from the 15th and 16th century Low Countries, including Bruegel and van der Weyden, tracing how drawing became an art in its own right.
Future Observatory: Tools for Transitionto 20 SeptDesign Museum · Free
Free display of four UK research projects showing how design-led innovation tackles housing, healthcare and resources for a sustainable green transition.
Waldmüller: Landscapesto 20 SeptNational Gallery · Free
The first ever UK exhibition of paintings by Austrian 19th-century artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, focusing on his landscapes. Free to all visitors.
Madelon Vriesendorp: Mind Gamesto 20 SeptSir John Soane's Museum · Free
A retrospective of the surreal, playful work of 2025 Soane Medal winner Madelon Vriesendorp, with over 50 pieces including her psychoanalytic boardgame, the Mind Game.
- David Hockney: A Year in Normandie (Detail)to 20 Sept
Serpentine Gallery
A public art mural by David Hockney presented in Serpentine North Garden, shown alongside his Serpentine North exhibition. Free.
James McNeill Whistlerto 27 SeptTate Britain
The first major European retrospective in 30 years of the rule-breaking American painter, with celebrated and rarely seen works from his teens to his late self-portraits.
Lasting Impressions: Women Printmakers 1900 – Nowto 27 SeptVictoria and Albert Museum · Free
A free display celebrating the innovative techniques and bold visions of 25 women printmakers working from 1900 to the present day.
Japanese Women Photographers: From 1950s to Nowto 27 SeptThe Photographers' Gallery
Landmark survey of 27 groundbreaking Japanese women photographers from the 1950s to today, with over 200 photographs, videos, installations and rare photobooks.
Hepworth and Nicholson: The Hampstead Studio Photographsto 4 OctCourtauld Gallery
Paul Laib's evocative early-1930s photographs of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson's shared Hampstead studio at 7 The Mall.
Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photographyto 4 OctDulwich Picture Gallery
Urban America through 34 photographers, from Stieglitz and Lange to Arbus and Winogrand, charting the rise of street photography from 1907 to 2012.
NIGO: From Japan with Loveto 4 OctDesign Museum
The first UK retrospective of Japanese creative director NIGO, with over 700 objects spanning fashion, ceramics and vintage Americana from his 30-year career.
John Constable: views of natureto 4 OctBritish Museum · Free
Marking the 250th anniversary of Constable's birth, this display in Room 90a presents drawings, sketches and mezzotints from his late career, drawn largely from an 1888 donation by his daughter Isabel — showing his lifelong engagement with the landscapes of rural England.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026to 7 OctNational Portrait Gallery · Free
Free annual exhibition celebrating the very best in contemporary portraiture painting, with works selected from this year's open competition.
Voices on Stage: Women in Yiddish Theatre @ Bradford Reform Synagogueto 8 OctJewish Museum London · Free
A display at Bradford Reform Synagogue celebrating Yiddish Theatre in London's East End through two of its stars, Clara Meisels and Anna Tzelniker.
The Echoes and Shadows of Identity – Art Installationto 16 OctRAF Museum · Free
Veteran artist David Tovey and LGBT+ military communities create a steel prison-cell installation and soundscape confronting the Armed Forces 'gay ban'.
Anish Kapoorto 18 OctHayward Gallery
One of the most influential artists of our time returns to the Hayward, filling the entire building with awe-inspiring sculptures, paintings and immersive installations.
Tree of Life: Stories from Jewish Museum London's Collectionto 18 OctJewish Museum London · Free
Room One of the museum's new Two Rooms space at JW3: a collection display tracing Jewish life in Britain from the 1656 readmission to today, framed by the Tree of Life.
Legacy: The Story of the Jewish Family who Founded J. Lyons and Fed Britainto 18 OctJewish Museum London · Free
Room Two of the Two Rooms space at JW3 tells the story of the German-Jewish family behind J. Lyons, from Corner Houses and Wimpy to the pioneering LEO computer.
New Work: Making East Londonto 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
The first edition of V&A East's twice-yearly New Work programme, inviting artists to make site-specific works responding to the making of east London.
Dispersal: Picturing urban change in east Londonto 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
Documents 80 businesses relocated from the Lea Valley to make way for the 2012 Olympic Games. Photographers Marion Davies and Debra Rapp systematically recorded these spaces between 2005-2007, preserving a record of East London's industrial heritage before its erasure.
Heads! Look To The Workers, Laura Wilsonto 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
Laura Wilson's commissioned sculptures honour East London's workers and makers through a poem inscribed into three pieces, activated with the call "Heads!" and raised/lowered by a fly system echoing dock and theatre shift patterns.
HEARD, Rene Matićto 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
A sound-system-shaped sculpture of photographs taken across east London, Plymouth and Peterborough, tracing Black British music as connective tissue through which communities gather, remember and move together.
Towards A Civic Museum, Tania Bruguerato 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
A commissioned work developed through conversations between artist Tania Bruguera and east London youth, presented as a stained-glass statement of shared principles about what it means for a museum to serve its community.
Tom Hunter Selectsto 18 OctV&A East Museum · Free
A co-curated display exploring photographer Tom Hunter's 40+ year relationship with east London through selections from the V&A's collections and his personal archive, examining the area as a place of radical thinking and resilience.
Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlamto 25 OctRoyal Academy of Arts
The first major survey in over 50 years of the Victorian painter, who created intricate fairy worlds, including The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, from within an asylum.
Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelierto 25 OctSerpentine Gallery · Free
'a serpentine', the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion by Mexico City studio LANZA atelier, is a brick structure based on the English serpentine (crinkle-crankle) wall.
The Wallace Collection at Warto 25 OctWallace Collection · Free
A free display on how Hertford House became a stage for Anglo-Soviet cultural diplomacy in wartime Britain, hosting major 1942 exhibitions to aid Russia.
Curtain Up!to 25 OctDulwich Picture Gallery · Free
A display exploring theatre portraits in the Gallery's Collection — costume, performance, and queerness and gender identity on and off stage — pairing historic works with contemporary artists.
Jesús Rafael Soto: Pénétrable BBL Jauneto 25 OctSerpentine Gallery · Free
A 10-metre kinetic sculpture of 4,000 suspended yellow PVC tubes in Kensington Gardens, inviting visitors to walk through and activate the work with their movement.
Art in the Gardens: 125th Anniversaryto 31 OctHorniman Museum · Free
Artwork by Year 9 students from Conisborough College, made with a Goldsmiths graduate, celebrating the museum's 125th anniversary and the Gardens' biodiversity.
Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Artto 1 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.
Art Now: Mohammed Z Rahmanto 8 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.
Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Artto 8 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.
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friendsto 15 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.
Winston Churchill: The Painterto 29 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 Ageto 29 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 250to 29 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stay in the loop on London
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.