A truly global figure, Whistler re-wrote the rules of what it meant to be an artist. He pioneered new and innovative techniques, creating astonishingly beautiful, ethereal visions of modern life that would earn him a place as one of the most influential artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This retrospective – the first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years – brings together the artist’s world-famous paintings alongside rarely, or never seen, works. It includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs, from as early as his teens in St. Petersburg to the enigmatic late self-portraits.

The exhibition presents both a boldly experimental artist and cosmopolitan celebrity, disrupting the conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of truth, beauty, and progress.

£24

Monday to Sunday 10.00–18.00

One of the most influential artists of our time, Anish Kapoor returns to the Hayward Gallery, where he staged his first major UK survey almost 30 years ago.

Kapoor’s exhibition fills the entire gallery building with a series of immersive works, many of which press against the gallery walls and floors or descend from the ceiling to create an uncanny sensation of awe and wonder.

The exhibition features works from many of Kapoor’s most iconic series: flawless steel mirror sculptures that warp, distort and disorient; mysterious objects coated in Vantablack – the blackest known substance in the world – that mystify us with their extraordinary light-absorbing properties; and seemingly depthless voids opening within the gallery, drawing us in with a thrilling sense of vertigo.

The exhibition also introduces dramatic recent works: visceral paintings and sculptures that confront us with the fragility of human existence.

In addition, the artist presents several new works that appear to turn the world inside out and upside down, including a pair of monumental installations in the artist’s signature red.

Part of Hayward Gallery’s 75th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff, marking his final show as Director of the Hayward Gallery after 20 years in the role.

Over his decades-long career, Kapoor has become known for ambitious, large-scale works such as the breathtaking Sky Mirror and Chicago’s Cloud Gate (known as The Bean).

£22

Tue – Fri, 10am – 6pm
Sat, 10am – 8pm
Sun, 10am – 6pm

Frida: The Making of an Icon will showcase over 30 of Kahlo’s most iconic works that introduce her ‘many selves’ – the dedicated wife, the intellectual, the modern artist, and the political activist. Alongside treasured garments, jewellery, photographs and memorabilia, there are over 200 works by her contemporaries and the artists she inspired from later generations, celebrating her lasting impact on those who continue to reimagine and reclaim her remarkable story.

The show will culminate by exploring ‘Fridamania’. Kahlo’s transformation into a global brand will feature more than 200 commercial objects that encompass her art, image, style and persona.

Encounter a journey entirely unique to this fearless, revolutionary artist, one that offers a fascinating insight into the transformative power of Frida’s life and work, the intriguing notion of fandom and the diversity of communities who claim her as their own.

£25

Sunday to Thursday 10.00–18.00

Friday to Saturday 10.00–21.00

For the first time since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago, the Bayeux Tapestry is returning to England.

Following a historic agreement with France, the 70-metre-long tapestry, depicting events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, will be loaned to the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.

This monumental embroidery tells the dramatic story of a moment that changed England forever. No year in the country’s history is more famous than 1066. It was the last time England was successfully invaded, and it is the year from which the modern monarchy dates itself. And there is no other object that is as instantly recognisable, as studied in schools and as copied by artists as the Bayeux Tapestry.

One of the wonders of the medieval world, the Tapestry offers a vision of life in 11th-century England both before and after the Conquest, from castles, warfare and ships to clothing, food and furniture.

Tickets from 10 September – 31 December 2026 have sold out.

The next ticket release will open on 21 October 2026 for bookings January 2027 onwards

See Here for details

Adults  £33
Adults + £3.50 donation  £36.50
Under 16s Free. Please book your under 16s ticket alongside an accompanying adult ticket. Maximum of four under 16s per ticketed adult.
Students, 16–18 years, Jobseekers £25
Disabled visitors £25 Assistant free, booking required
National Art Pass £16.50
Members – Two visits with no additional cost for existing Members, 10% discount thereafter.

Frieze Sculpture returns to The Regent’s Park this autumn at the heart of London. Curated for a fourth year by Fatoş Üstek, Frieze Sculpture’s 14th edition includes 11 leading international artists whose work will be sited throughout the park’s historic English Gardens.

Each artist will present sculptural works that blend different media, materials, techniques, and cultural references, creating a vibrant hybrid ecology shaped by distinct spatial, social, and environmental contexts.

Artists taking part this year includes Ivana Bašić, Carolina Aguirre, Matyáš Chochola, Conrad Shawcross, Angel Otero, Douglas White, Elena Nemkova, Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Tarini Sethi, and Catriona Robertson, each bringing new commissions and recent work on loan from leading international galleries.

A takeover exploring sonic justice.

Turner Prize-winning artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan transforms the Barbican Centre into a dynamic, interdisciplinary platform exploring the urgent and evolving concept of sonic justice.

Over four days, Repercussions brings together an installation, performances, screenings, panel discussions and live music to examine the impact of sound, from the harmful damage of noise pollution to the subversive power of silence.

Often describing himself as a ‘Private Ear’, Abu Hamdan’s work in audio analysis and aural testimony has reshaped how sonic evidence is mined and understood. His investigations into various crimes and human rights abuses, conducted through his not-for-profit Earshot, have been used by major news organisations, NGOs and grassroots community groups. He then uses installation, video, and live performance to reflect and meditate on the wider political, social and cultural implications of his investigations.

For Repercussions, Abu Hamdan reshapes the Barbican into a site for listening, reflection and shared inquiry.

For full event details see Here

Presenting British art since 1988, British Art Fair is the UK’s only fair dedicated exclusively to Modern and Contemporary British Art. Set within the iconic Saatchi Gallery in the heart of London’s vibrant Chelsea, British Art Fair brings together leading specialist dealers, exceptional works across a wide range of price points, and a setting that makes discovering and collecting art feel informed and rewarding. The Fair offers visitors the opportunity to explore and collect paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, prints, and ceramics from Britain’s most celebrated artists, alongside a curated programme of events and conversations.

Collectors’ Preview, Thursday 24 September, 12pm – 9pm
Friday 25 September, 11am – 9pm
Saturday 26 September, 11am – 7pm
Sunday 27 September, 11am – 5pm

Last entry will be half an hour before the fair is due to close.

Collectors’ Preview – £70
General Admission – £26
Concessions – £23; for over 65s, full time students, disabled visitors and Blue Badge holders, and those in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance or income support.

Gagosian presents an exhibition dedicated to René Magritte and his enduring influence on the art of today. Organised in collaboration with the Fondation Magritte, This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte examines the artist’s legacy through significant paintings, works on paper, and sculpture from all periods of his career. Featuring loans from museums and private collectors, these include some of his best-known subjects, from apples and pipes to bowler hats and cotton-cloud skies. They are juxtaposed with works by more than forty artists of different generations, many of which have been created specifically for the exhibition, in a striking installation inspired by the iconic and paradoxical aspects of Magritte’s practice.

The exhibition’s earliest painting, Les Fleurs du voyage (The Flowers of the Journey, 1926), is a symbol-laden landscape included in Magritte’s debut one-person exhibition at Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels, in 1927. Painted only a few weeks after his arrival in Paris, L’Ombre céleste (The Celestial Shade, 1927) was featured in the legendary exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1936–37. Le Parfum de l’abîme (The Scent of the Abyss, 1928) was first owned by André Breton, founder of the Surrealist movement. La Malédiction (The Curse, 1931) is the artist’s earliest single-panel canvas solely of a cloud-filled sky.

La Clef des songes (The Interpretation of Dreams, 1935) was painted for Magritte’s first solo exhibition in the United States, held at Julien Levy Gallery, New York, in 1936. Widely understood as a conceptual self-portrait, La Lampe philosophique (The Philosopher’s Lamp, 1936) epitomizes Magritte’s pictorial explorations of paradox and introspection. The painting was included in Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2006–07) and was made shortly before the landmark 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, London, a short walk from the Grosvenor Hill gallery.

La Marche triomphale (The Triumphant March, 1948) is one of three paintings in the exhibition from the artist’s provocative vache period, a short-lived style characterized by brash colors and intentionally crude forms. La Trahison des images. Ceci continue de ne pas être une pipe (The Treachery of Images. This Is Still Not a Pipe, 1952) depicts one of Magritte’s most iconic subjects, and updates the famous text. L’Empire des lumières (The Dominion of Light, 1961), loaned by the Heidi Horten Collection, Vienna, is the final painting in the series of landscapes in which day and night coexist, and the only one to feature a bowler-hatted figure silhouetted against the sky.

Participating contemporary artists include Isabelle Albuquerque, Harold Ancart, Nairy Baghramian, Matthew Barney, Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, Maurizio Cattelan, Vija Celmins, Talia Chetrit, George Condo, Michael Craig-Martin, John Currin, Alex Da Corte, Dominique Fung, Lenz Geerk, Robert Gober, David Hammons, Rachel Harrison, Mona Hatoum, Allison Katz, Jeff Koons, Sean Landers, Charles LeDray, Glenn Ligon, Sarah Lucas, Victor Man, Soshiro Matsubara, Adam McEwen, Bennett Miller, Jill Mulleady, Yoko Ono, Laura Owens, Charles Ray, Giangiacomo Rossetti, Ed Ruscha, Betye Saar, Dana Schutz, Ricky Swallow, Pol Taburet, Kazuna Taguchi, Mark Tansey, Georges Thiry, Anna Weyant, Jordan Wolfson, Issy Wood, Joanna Woś, and Joseph Yaeger.

Historical works by Celmins, Ono, Ruscha, and Saar were all made during Magritte’s lifetime, demonstrating the range of his influence in the postwar era. Saar—who passed away at ninety-nine during the exhibition’s final planning stages—is the only nonliving contemporary artist included. Many other works are being shown for the first time, including new paintings by Ancart, Geerk, Katz, Mulleady, Rossetti, Schutz, Taburet, Weyant, Woś, and Yaeger; sculptures and objects by Albuquerque, Da Corte, Fung, and Matsubara; and photography by Taguchi.

On the exhibition, Larry Gagosian notes: “It is difficult to imagine a world today without Magritte. Almost six decades after his death, his influence continues to resonate within contemporary artistic production, and beyond into the broader landscape of visual culture—shaping advertising, design, fashion, and even music. I am delighted to be presenting his work at the gallery once again, and to offer audiences a renewed opportunity to engage with the poetry, wit, and mystery that define his vision.”

Free

Tuesday–Saturday 10–6

Lead image: René Magritte, La Lampe philosophique (The Philosopher’s Lamp), 1936, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 × 26 inches (50 × 66 cm)
© 2026 C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: courtesy Private Collection, Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium