London Art Exhibitions 2025 An Artlyst Month by Month Guide
*UPDATED*
2025 promises to see another full and varied programme of art exhibitions in London. Artlyst has put together this month-by-month guide.
5 January 2025
Hayward Gallery
Ten London Art Exhibitions Opening In 2025
Here are ten London Art exhibitions to look out for in 2025.
17 December 2024
Ten Unmissable London Art Exhibitions Autumn 2024 – Artlyst
Autumn will bring significant exhibitions to the major museums and galleries in London.
28 August 2024
The Art Diary August 2024 – Revd Jonathan Evens
August’s diary highlights a range of shows which engage with art as a form of storytelling by revealing hidden histories and telling lost stories.
6 August 2024
Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere
The Hayward Gallery presents Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere, the first mid-career survey of the New York-based Bahamian artist.
Tue – Fri, 10am – 6pm Sat, 10am – 8pm Sun, 10am – 6pm
When Forms Come Alive
The artworks in When Forms Come Alive conjure fluid and shifting realms of experience.
Wed – Fri, 10am – 6pm Sat, 10am – 8pm Sun, 10am – 6pm
Hiroshi Sugimoto
The largest survey to date of Hiroshi Sugimoto, an artist renowned for creating some of the most alluringly enigmatic photographs of our time.
see website
The Art Diary July 2023 – Rev Jonathan Evens
The July Art Diary includes exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery, Hayward Gallery, Firstsite Colchester, Newport Street Gallery and Salisbury Cathedral.
13 July 2023
Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis
Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis is inspired by artist Otobong Nkanga’s suggestion that ‘caring is a form of resistance’.
see website
Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons
The first major survey of work by internationally acclaimed British artist Mike Nelson features his psychologically charged and atmospheric installations.
Wed – Fri, 10am – 6pm Sat, 10am – 8pm Sun, 10am – 6pm Closed Mon & Tue
A Question Of Clay: Strange Clay – Hayward Gallery – Revd Jonathan Evens
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in ceramics from artists and the public, from the popularity of The Great Pottery, Throw Down to Theaster Gates’
13 November 2022
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art is the first large-scale group exhibition in the UK exploring how contemporary artists have used clay in unexpected ways.
Wed, 11am – 9pm Thu – Sat, 11am – 7pm Sun, 10am – 6pm
Ten London Art Exhibitions Autumn 2022
London comes into its own in Autumn with the opening of a whole array of exciting exhibitions, fairs and auctions. Artlyst has put together a list of ten art exhibitions presented in our world-class galleries and museums.
31 August 2022
In The Black Fantastic London’s Best Summer Exhibition – Hayward Gallery
In his 2020 Aperture article on ‘The Black Fantastic’, Ekow Eshun used a definition of the fantastic now a new exhibition at the Hayward…
13 August 2022
In the Black Fantastic
An exhibition of 11 contemporary artists from the African diaspora, who draw on science fiction, myth and Afrofuturism to question our knowledge of the world.
Wed – Sat, 11am – 7pm Sundays 10am – 6pm Closed Mon & Tue
Louise Bourgeois: Vision Of The Safe Womb – Hayward Gallery – Sue Hubbard
is a mythmaker and a storyteller. A chronicler of the self who has used her life to create narratives that speak of female desire
13 February 2022
Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child
The first major retrospective of legendary artist Louise Bourgeios to focus exclusively on her work using fabrics and textiles.
Wed – Sat 11am – 7pm, Sundays 10am – 6pm.
Gerhard Richter: Drawings, 1999 – 2021
Richter’s first presentation in a major London gallery in a decade – brings together more than 60 works on paper made between 1999 and 2021.
see website
Mixing It Up: Painting Today
Mixing It Up brings together 31 contemporary painters who exploit the unique characteristics of their medium to create fresh, compelling works of art that speak to this moment.
see website
Ryoji Ikeda And Matthew Barney The End Of Silence – James Payne
James Payne embraces the end of silence after months of lockdown in two new exhibitions: Ryoji Ikeda at 180 The Strand and Matthew Barney at the Hayward Gallery.
20 May 2021
Igshaan Adams: Kicking Dust
The Hayward Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in the UK of South African artist Igshaan Adams (b. 1982). The 2018 winner of the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award,
11am – 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm, Sunday
Matthew Barney: Redoubt
Matthew Barney: Redoubt reveals a major new direction in the work of a renowned artist and film-maker.
11am – 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm, Sunday
Among The Trees A Sense Of Loss – Edward Lucie-Smith
Among the Trees which just opened at the Hayward Gallery, is an ambitious exhibition that has all the best intentions, and somehow fails to make its point. Or, rather, it makes a point that is perhaps different from what the organisers intended.
9 March 2020
Among the Trees
This exhibition brings together artworks that explore our relationships with trees and forests.
11am – 7pm Wednesday - Saturday 10am – 6pm Sunday Closed Monday and Tuesday
Bridget Riley: Dynamic Interactions And Optical Wizardry – Edward Lucie-Smith
At a time when there is a continual fuss about giving ‘fair representation’ to women artists, many of whom were not, in fact, central to the major art movements to which they, often peripherally, belonged, the Bridget Riley show at the Hayward comes as a major relief.
29 October 2019
Thabiso Sekgala: Here Is Elsewhere
This free HENI Project Space exhibition explores home, intimacy, place and belonging in the work of late South African photographer Thabiso Sekgala.
11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm.
Bridget Riley
A major retrospective exhibition devoted to the work of celebrated British artist Bridget Riley.
11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm.
Gender Fluidity Celebrated In New Hayward Gallery Exhibition – Teo Robinson
Kiss My Genders at the Hayward Gallery curated by Vincent Honore is a dynamic voyage and vivacious celebration of infinite representations of gender-diversity, gender non-conformity, androgyny and gender-subversion over the course of 50 years, featuring a mélange of 100 artworks by 35 international artists.
17 June 2019
Kiss My Genders
This summer Hayward Gallery presents Kiss My Genders, a group exhibition celebrating more than 30 international artists whose work explores and engages with gender identity.
11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm.
Diane Arbus Street Of Secrets – Hayward Gallery – Sue Hubbard
My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been’ wrote the photographer Diane Arbus, the poor little rich Jewish girl who walked on the wild side.
23 February 2019
Diane Arbus: In The Beginning / Kader Attia: The Museum of Emotion
Diane Arbus: in the beginning includes nearly 100 photographs that redefine the achievement of one of the most prominent and influential artists of the 20th century. Plus the first major survey in the United Kingdom of one of today’s leading international artists: Kader Attia.
11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm.
Bridget Riley: Comprehensive New Exhibition Announced By Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is to present a major retrospective exhibition devoted to the work of the celebrated British artist, Bridget Riley.
27 November 2018