Autumn will bring exciting and significant exhibitions to the major museums and galleries in London. From beloved artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, and Francis Bacon to a group show featuring Renaissance giants Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael, there will be plenty to satisfy your artistic tastes. Additionally, the Turner Prize exhibition will be returning to the capital. Here are some of Artlyst’s recommendations.
September
Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers
National Gallery
14 September 2024 – 19 January 2025
Get ready to be amazed by Van Gogh’s most stunning paintings at a once-in-a-century exhibition. The National Gallery is bringing together some of Van Gogh’s most beloved paintings from around the world, including some that are rarely seen in public. These paintings will be paired with his extraordinary drawings. Van Gogh revolutionized his style over two years in the south of France, creating a symphony of poetic color and texture. Inspired by poets, writers, and artists, his time in Arles and Saint-Rémy was a decisive period in his career.
from £24
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Michael Craig-Martin
Royal Academy of Arts
21 September – 10 December 2024
Take a look back at the vibrant career of groundbreaking artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin RA. A prominent figure in British conceptual art, Michael Craig-Martin is considered one of the most influential artists and teachers of his time. This exhibition will feature the largest collection of Craig-Martin’s work in the UK. Visitors will have the chance to view highlights from his remarkable career, including thought-provoking installations and colorful artworks.
£22-24.50
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Turner Prize 2024
Tate Britain
25 Sep 2024 – 16 Feb 2025
The Turner Prize returns to Tate Britain for its 40th anniversary.
The four artists shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas. They will showcase their eclectic work at Tate Britain from 25 September 2024, with the winner announced on 3 December 2024.
Named after the radical painter JMW Turner, the Turner Prize was first awarded in 1984. Each year, it is given to a British artist who has created an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work.
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Monet and London: Views of the Thames
Courtauld Gallery
27 Sep 2024 – 19 Jan 2025
Claude Monet (1840—1926) is renowned worldwide as the leading figure of French Impressionism. Not as well-known is the fact that some of Monet’s most remarkable Impressionist paintings were created not in France but in London. These paintings depict extraordinary views of the Thames, showcasing evocative atmosphere, mysterious light, and radiant color in a way never seen before.
Monet began this series during three stays in London between 1899 and 1901, portraying Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament.
The exhibition will finally fulfill Monet’s unrealized ambition of showcasing this extraordinary group of paintings in London, just 300 meters from the Savoy Hotel where many of them were painted.
£18
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October
Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit
Tate Modern
2 October 2024 – 9 March 2025
The first major UK exhibition of American artist Mike Kelley. This exhibition showcases the elaborate, provocative, and imaginary worlds created by Kelley. Throughout his career from the late 1970s to 2012, Kelley produced a diverse body of work using drawing, collage, performance, found objects, and video. The exhibition covers Kelley’s entire career and includes his breakthrough ‘craft’ sculptures made from textile and plush toys, as well as his multi-media installations. Drawing on references from popular and underground culture, literature, and philosophy, Kelley delves into how the roles we play in society are intertwined with historical fact and imaginary characters from the films and images we consume. More than a decade after his passing, Kelley’s reflections on identity and memory still hold relevance..
£18
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The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975–1998
Barbican Art Gallery
Sat 5 October 2024—Sun 5 January 202
Exhibition featuring art in response to India’s changing cultural-political landscape from 1975 to 1998. The show includes artwork by over 25 Indian artists and marks two significant events in India’s history: Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 and the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. This period was characterized by social upheaval, economic collapse, and rapid urbanization. Despite the turbulence, artists created work that captured historically significant events as well as personal and shared experiences. The exhibition showcases a range of media, exploring themes such as friendship, love, desire, family, religion, violence, caste, community, and protest. These deeply personal works provide insight into a period of significant change. This is the first institutional exhibition to cover these years, featuring many works never before seen in the UK.
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Haegue Yang: Leap Year
Hayward Gallery
9 Oct 2024 – 5 Jan 2025
Haegue Yang’s artwork encompasses a wide range of media, including paper collage, performative sculpture, and large sensorial installations. Her inspiration is equally diverse, drawing from a variety of histories and customs such as East Asian traditions and folklore, modernism, contemporary art history, and nature.
“Leap Year” marks the first major survey of this internationally celebrated artist in the UK. The exhibition provides a comprehensive exploration of Yang’s work from the early 2000s to the present day. It emphasizes how her artwork resonates on a personal and sensory level while also addressing social, political, and spiritual ideas.
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Francis Bacon Portraits
National Portrait Gallery
10 October 2024 – 19 January 2025
This exhibition will feature works from the 1950s onwards and will delve into Francis Bacon’s strong connection to portraiture. It will also explore how he challenged traditional definitions of the genre. The exhibition will showcase Bacon’s responses to portraiture by earlier artists, as well as large-scale paintings commemorating lost lovers. The works, sourced from private and public collections, will tell the story of Bacon’s life. Alongside the artist’s self-portraits, the exhibition will include portraits of individuals such as Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne, and Bacon’s lovers Peter Lacy and George Dyer
£23-£25.50
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November
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence c 1504
Royal Academy of Arts
9 November 2024 – 16 February 2025
In the early 16th century, three influential figures of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael – briefly intersected as they vied for the favour of the most powerful patrons in Republican Florence.
On January 25, 1504, the leading artists of Florence gathered to advise on a suitable placement for Michelangelo’s nearly completed sculpture, David. Among them was Leonardo da Vinci, who, like Michelangelo, had recently returned to his hometown of Florence.
This exhibition starts with Michelangelo’s renowned Taddei Tondo and delves into the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo, as well as the influence both exerted on the young Raphael.
View some of the finest examples of Italian Renaissance drawing, including Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon and the studies by Leonardo and Michelangelo for their murals commissioned by the Florentine government for the newly constructed council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio.
£19-21
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Photographing 80s Britain: A Critical Decade
Tate Britain
21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025
Step back in time and discover the 1980s in the UK. This exhibition showcases the work of various photographers, collectives, and publications who responded in unique ways to the tumultuous Thatcher era. Against the backdrop of race uprisings, miner strikes, section 28, the AIDS pandemic, and gentrification, you’ll be inspired by stories of protest and change.
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For more exhibition suggestions see Here