The 19 Best Exhibitions in London to Experience This Season

For those seeking creative inspiration, a visit to one of London's premier galleries offers the perfect tonic. Exhibitions serve as dynamic forums where artists and curators spark dialogues that challenge conventional perspectives and invite deeper reflection. The capital's art scene is currently host to an array of exceptional displays, from historic retrospective surveys to cutting-edge contemporary installations. Here is our curated selection of the most compelling exhibitions in London to experience this season.

Best exhibition at the Young V&A

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Contact details: +44 20 8983 5200

Operating hours:

• Monday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 5:45 PM

1. Making Egypt

Media credits: young.vam

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Price: £

Date: Until November 2, 2025

Making Egypt successfully presents Ancient Egyptian history in a manner that is highly accessible to all ages. While designed primarily with younger visitors in mind, the exhibition features rich curation that is equally engaging for adults.

The displays cleverly juxtapose archaeology with modern pop culture, highlighting the real history of figures like Imhotep alongside cinematic representations. The exhibition is structured around three key themes: storytelling, communication, and construction, teaching visitors how to decipher hieroglyphs and understand ancient craftsmanship.

Pro tip: Take your time with the artefacts. The sarcophagus of Princess Sopdet-em-haawt and the funerary boat are amazing. Photos rarely do them justice.

Best exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum

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Contact details: +44 20 7942 2000

Operating hours:

• Monday to Thursday: 10:00 AM to 5:45 PM
• Friday: 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM
• Saturday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 5:45 PM

2. Design & Disability

Media credits: vamuseum

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until February 15, 2026

Design and Disability is a thoughtful and provocative exhibition exploring the relationship between design and accessibility. Finnegan Shannon's bright blue bench serves as both a functional resting place and a critique of institutional design standards.

Divided into three sections: Visibility, Tools, and Living, the exhibition highlights the contributions of disabled creators, showcasing innovative technologies alongside personal narratives. The displays encourage tactile engagement, showing how inclusive design principles can enrich user experiences for everyone.

Pro tip: Pay attention to how the exhibition explores overlapping issues (like race, gender, or neurodivergence). These connections deepen the story and your understanding.

3. Marie Antoinette Style

Media credits: vamuseum

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until March 22, 2026

Marie Antoinette Style examines the lasting fashion legacy of the French queen, demonstrating how her wardrobe choices have shaped design for over two hundred and fifty years. The exhibition features beautiful period-style gowns highlighting the embroidery and silhouettes of the Versailles court.

The displays also explore the queen's personal life through jewellery and olfactory reconstructions of eighteenth-century fragrances. The exhibition concludes with a poignant look at her final days, showcasing the simple white chemise she wore during her imprisonment alongside her final letters.

Pro tip: If you’re sensitive to smell, you might want to step back into the fragrance room installations. Some of the smells are very strong and can even cause you to sneeze.

4. Prix Pictet 2025 - Storm

Media credits: prixpictet

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Price: Free

Date: Until October 19, 2025

The Prix Pictet 2025 exhibition, themed around the concept of the Storm, showcases outstanding global photography addressing environmental and social turbulence. The selected artists capture diverse interpretations of the theme, ranging from ecological changes to socio-political shifts and scientific imagery.

The exhibition is highly atmospheric, prompting reflection on contemporary global challenges. The visual works are complemented by a subtle sound design within the galleries.

Pro tip: Bring headphones or earplugs. There’s a subtle sound design in parts of the exhibition that can be so immersive. Headphones or earplugs can help you control the sensory experience if you’re sensitive to sound.

5. Cartier

Media credits: cartier and vamuseum

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Price: £££ / Free for members

Date: Until November 16, 2025

This Cartier retrospective presents over three hundred and fifty exceptional items of jewellery, showcasing the craftsmanship and design history of the famous house. The initial galleries display works inspired by non-Western design traditions, including motifs from India, Japan, and Persia, showing how Cartier integrated global influences into its Parisian aesthetic.

The exhibition charts the evolution of the brand's design language, highlighting tiaras and necklaces made for royal patrons.

Pro tip: Tickets have been selling out weeks in advance. If you’re planning to go, grab a slot as soon as you can. Better yet, consider getting a V&A membership, so you can walk in without worrying about sold-out dates and get access to other exhibitions too.

Best exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery

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Contact details: +44 20 3879 9555

Operating hours:

• Monday: Closed
• Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
• Saturday: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
• Sunday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

6. Val Lee: The Presence of Solitude

Media credits: val_lee_indeks

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Price: Free

Date: Until January 11, 2026

Val Lee's exhibition, The Presence of Solitude, uses film, photography, and bespoke costumes to explore the theme of isolation and introspection. The work is designed to slow down the visitor's pace, encouraging quiet observation of everyday settings. Key works such as The Valley in the Minibus and The Sorrowful Football Team present contrasting moods of dreamlike serenity and emotional depth.

Pro tip: Aim for weekday mornings to avoid crows. The show is free to enter, so it can get busier at weekends and late evenings.

7. Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES

Media credits: southbank_london

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Price: ££

Date: Until January 11, 2026

Gilbert and George: 21st Century Pictures offers a vibrant and provocative survey of the duo's large-scale grid works from the past twenty-five years. Featuring sixty monumental pieces, the exhibition uses bright colors and graphic imagery to address themes of identity, modern urban life, and social contradictions.

The work is bold and frequently humorous, presenting an intense visual experience. It is highly suited for visitors interested in contemporary social commentary.

Pro tip: Avoid bringing small kids unless you’re prepared for questions. Some of the images and language might lead to awkward car ride conversations. Teens with an interest in art or social commentary, though, would love it here.

Best exhibitions at the Tate Modern

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Contact details: +44 20 7887 8888

Operating hours:

• Monday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

8. Theatre Picasso

Media credits: alminerech

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until April 12, 2026

Theatre Picasso presents over forty-five paintings, sculptures, and textiles exploring the Spanish master's involvement with theatrical design and performance. The galleries are designed to evoke a backstage environment, with works grouped thematically rather than chronologically to mirror the artist's creative shifts.

The exhibition highlights rarely seen works, including the raw and expressive Nude Woman with Necklace. Detailed wall panels provide extensive historical and biographical context for the pieces.

Pro tip: The last room has a stage-like setup where you can look back through a curtain at the rest of the space. Don’t rush past it. It’s designed so you become part of the artwork, watching and being watched.

9. Emily Kam Kngwarray

Media credits: tate

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until January 11, 2026

This exhibition dedicated to Emily Kam Kngwarray showcases the monumental scale and rhythmic complexity of the Australian Aboriginal artist's paintings. The large-scale abstract works are characterized by intricate dot and line patterns that evoke natural landscapes and ancestral connections.

The curation provides clear cultural context, making the exhibition highly accessible to general audiences while maintaining a focus on the visual power of the paintings.

Pro tip: Her art works best when you shift perspective. Step close for the details, and step back to see the vast landscapes. Doing this with each piece lets you see the rhythm in her work.

10. The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House

Media credits: tate and dohosuhstudio

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until October 26, 2025

Do Ho Suh: Walk the House explores themes of displacement, memory, and the concept of home through large-scale architectural installations. Key works include the Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, a paper recreation of the artist's childhood home in South Korea, and Nest/s, a walk-through maze of translucent fabric rooms.

The delicate fabric installations respond to the movement of visitors within the space. The exhibition also features supporting drawings and video works.

Pro tip: Look up. The ceilings in Suh’s installations are part of the story. Most people focus on the walls, but the top views also hide some of the most intricate details.

11. Edward Burra

Media credits: tate

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until October 19, 2025

This survey of Edward Burra's work highlights the British painter's distinct depiction of modern life, urban nightlife, and mid-century subcultures. The exhibition features vivid watercolor paintings of Parisian bars, jazz clubs, and street scenes, characterized by exaggerated figures and bold color palettes.

The curation traces Burra's career, showing his interest in representing marginalized communities and the realities of working-class life. The later galleries present more somber themes reflecting his response to war.

Pro tip: Save some energy for the final rooms. The later sections get heavier emotionally, so don’t breeze through them. Instead, take a moment to reflect.

12. Ithell Colquhoun

Media credits: tate

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until October 19, 2025

Ithell Colquhoun's exhibition presents a comprehensive look at the British surrealist's career, focusing on her interest in nature, mythology, and the occult. The layout is thematic, showcasing her early classical works alongside her later surrealist experiments and automatic drawings.

The displays include archival notebooks, letters, and sketches that detail her working methods and interest in esotericism. The exhibition concludes with a dedicated display of her custom tarot designs.

Pro tip: Bring a friend who’s into astrology or mysticism. Calquhoun’s grand finale is a tarot section, and each card is packed with occult symbols and geometric detail. It’ll be fun to compare interpretations.

13. Lee Miller

Media credits: tatecollective

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until February 15, 2026

Featuring over two hundred and fifty photographs, this exhibition documents the remarkable career of Lee Miller. The retrospective spans her work as a fashion model in New York, her surrealist photography in Paris, and her crucial photojournalism during the Second World War.

The galleries are arranged chronologically, providing clear historical context for her shifting roles as both subject and photographer. The captions offer concise details without interrupting the visual flow.

Pro tip: Don’t rush the first rooms. Look at how she’s photographed versus how she later photographs herself. It’s a quiet power shift that sets up the whole show.

14. Nigerian Modernism

Media credits: tate

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Price: ££ / Free for members

Date: Until May 10, 2026

Nigerian Modernism explores the creative output of Nigerian artists during the mid-twentieth century, tracing the development of a distinct national aesthetic. The exhibition showcases paintings, sculpture, and textiles, highlighting how artists integrated European modernist techniques with traditional Nigerian art forms.

The collection features prominent figures alongside lesser-known practitioners, showing the diverse scope of the country's modern art movement. The galleries are organized to show the historical progression of the movement.

Pro tip: Start at the beginning and resist skipping ahead. The layout follows a timeline of Nigerian art’s revolution, and jumping ahead can break the flow.

Best exhibitions at the Design Museum

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Contact details: +44 20 3862 5937

Operating hours:

• Monday to Thursday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
• Friday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

15. Blitz: the club that shaped the 80s

Media credits: designmuseum

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Price: ££

Date: Until March 29, 2026

Blitz: The Club That Shaped the '80s presents a fascinating look at the fashion, music, and subculture of the famous London club. The exhibition features a recreated bar area to evoke the atmosphere of the night, while showcasing iconic designs by Stephen Linard, Stephen Jones, and BodyMap.

The displays highlight the creative DIY fashion of the era, showcasing garments that combined vintage elements with theatrical design. Supporting archival items include flyers, independent magazines, and records.

Pro tip: Check out the archives. The flyers, magazines, and rare vinyl records are full of context. They show how the Blitz scene influenced fashion, music, and media.

Best exhibitions at the Barbican

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Contact details: +44 20 7870 2500

Operating hours:

• Open daily (check official schedule for exhibition slot times)

16. Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion

Media credits: londonartfile

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Price: ££

Date: Until January 25, 2026

Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion examines the aesthetics of distress, imperfection, and decay within fashion design. Across twelve themed rooms, the exhibition displays garments by celebrated designers such as Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood alongside contemporary work by Elena Velez and IAMISIGO.

The garments are displayed in an open, immersive format to showcase the textures and draping of the fabrics. The curation explores how these designs challenge traditional notions of beauty.

Pro tip: Look for hidden details and designer techniques, like paint splatters or distressing methods that mimic natural decay. Pay attention to the stitching, layering, and unusual materials.

17. Encounters: Giacometti x Mona Hatoum

Media credits: whitecube and barbicancentre

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Price: £

Date: Until January 11, 2026

Encounters: Giacometti x Mona Hatoum brings together sculptures by the modern master alongside installations by contemporary artist Mona Hatoum. The central work, Bourj, is a monumental steel structure that addresses themes of conflict and structural vulnerability, presenting a powerful comment on modern crisis.

The gallery features several low-level sculptures and installation elements. The dialogue between the two artists highlights shared concerns with human vulnerability and form.

Pro tip: Visitors should take care when navigating the gallery space, as several delicate glass works are situated directly on the floor.

18. Lucy Raven: Rounds

Media credits: barbicancentre and lisson_gallery

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Price: Free

Date: Until January 4, 2026

Lucy Raven: Rounds is a large-scale installation combining film and kinetic sculpture to investigate industrial labor, automation, and the transformation of landscapes. The exhibition opens with Hardpan, a large, loud kinetic light installation that dominates the gallery space.

The supporting film work, Murderers Bar, documents the decommissioning of a river dam in California, exploring themes of ecological recovery and geological time.

Pro tip: Due to the intense lighting effects of the kinetic sculpture, visitors with light sensitivities should enter the gallery with caution.

Best exhibitions at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

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Contact details: +44 20 8693 5254

Operating hours:

• Monday: Closed
• Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

19. Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons

Media credits: dulwichgallery

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Price: ££

Date: Until October 19, 2025

Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons showcases the artist's large-scale oil pastel paintings, celebrated for their intense color palettes and abstract forms. The initial galleries feature monumental canvases that surround the viewer, using color contrasts to create a sense of movement.

The exhibition explores the emotional impact of color combinations, transitioning from large-scale works to smaller, more intimate compositions.

Pro tip: Take a break before moving to the smaller works. The first few pieces are visually intense, so grab a minute in between rooms to reset. It’ll help you appreciate the more intimate works in the middle section.

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