Log in to My Time Out for your personalised guide to what's on in London. It's fast, easy and FREE!

The best of 2011: art exhibitions

Time Out's art editor picks his favourite exhibitions of 2011... and one turkey

The best of 2011 in London

The Time Out editors have all picked their favourite events and moments of 2011. See if you agree with them.

See all of our best of 2011 lists

Famous paintings in London

  • A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1881-2 by Edouard Manet

    Not only is London home to a vibrant and ever-changing contemporary art scene but it’s also the place to see some of the world’s greatest historical artworks.

View unmissable paintings in London

London's best art galleries

In a year of yet more commercial gallery and art fair expansion, the much-feared Arts Council cuts went by without major institutional or cultural casualties – even the newly slashed ICA staged something like a return to form. An air of plucky Blitz spirit gave us a nostalgic Festival of Britain as well as an abundance of smart, focused survey shows, rather than the usual raft of blustery blockbusters.


The best of 2011...

  • 1
    Joan Miró (The Hare) 1927 Joan Miró (The Hare) 1927 - Solomon R Guggenheim Musuem, New York © Successió Miró/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2011
    Read more

    Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape

    14 Apr-11 Sep, Tate Modern

    A number of exhibitions in 2011 attempted to take a fresh look at some old favourites and so it was that Joan Miró, that most poetic of artists, was given a political slant. And it worked. Turns out there was some method behind the squiggly madness and childlike gestures of this famous Catalan gadabout and prolific painter. Miró’s surreal creations contained echoes not just of his rustic upbringing and nascent national pride but also embraced sophisticated artistic, intellectual and spatial concerns as well. A finale of immersive rooms and five bold triptychs ensured that this retrospective out-muscled even Tate’s other superb solo shows of Gerhard Richter and John Martin.

  • 2
    Cy Twombly, Hero and Leandro, 1985 Cy Twombly, Hero and Leandro, 1985 - Private Collection, © Cy Twombly, Courtesy Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Zurich, © Cy Towmbly
    Read more

    Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters

    29 Jun-25 Sept, Dulwich Picture Gallery

    In a year of high-profile painters passing away, including Lucian Freud and Richard Hamilton, the death of Cy Twombly, during the run of this jewel-like show, lent an eerie postscript to an otherwise joyous occasion and made retroactive sense of the decision to include Tacita Dean’s touching little film on the artist. An initially odd-seeming pairing of unfashionable old master with abstract godfather of American graffiti begun to sing in a deftly curated corridor of compare-and-contrast canvases. Despite Dulwich’s lack of wall space this 200th anniversary show lingered longer in the memory than many a bolshy blockbuster of last year.

  • 3
    Roger Hiorns, Untitled, 2005-2010 Roger Hiorns, Untitled, 2005-2010 - Photo Kieron McCarron
    Read more

    British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet

    16 Feb-17 Apr, Hayward Gallery

    This touring caravan of contemporary graced some serious cultural backwaters (well, okay just Plymouth) but still stood up when it came to snooty Londinium, given that we are more than used to seeing the likes of cool young things such as Charles Avery, Steven Claydon and Spartacus Chetwynd blowing through town. Still, the inclusion of Nathaniel Mellors, Haroon Mirza, Christian Marclay and Karla Black proved that curators Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton were firmly on trend (as all these artists showed later in the year at the Venice Biennale) without having to resort to too much slavish polishing of reputations. With no British Art Show for another five years and a postponement of the next Tate Triennial, we’re already feeling bereft of the next sprawling, talent-oriented groupathon.

  • 4
    Piccadilly Community Centre, 2011 Piccadilly Community Centre, 2011 - Courtesy Piccadilly Community Centre
    Read more

    Hauser & Wirth

    13 May-30 July, Piccadilly Community Centre

    The exercise classes, coffee mornings and silver-surfer web sessions were all for real, so why did this art-meets-life installation feel so fake? Perhaps it was the disturbing details left by Christoph Büchel, the much in-demand Swiss installation artist responsible for this subtly unnerving subterfuge, which included a revolutionary’s bedsit in the attic, a Conservative party membership desk and, I was later told, a secret hidey-hole complete with porn stash, hidden behind a fire exit in the basement bar. The levels of verisimilitude were astonishing – down to the unstaffed money exchange window in the entrance – but the message was anything but clear, leaving only a delicious tang of uncertainty and bewilderment.

...and the worst of 2011

  • Takashi Murakami, installation view Takashi Murakami, installation view - ©Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved
    Read more

    Takashi Murakami

    27 Jun-5 Aug, Gagosian

    After Japan’s horrific year of earthquake- and tsunami-induced nuclear meltdown, there was some expectation that Murakami might unleash more of his powerful paintings on the subject of apocalypse (two skull-filled glossy ones here almost fitted the bill). Alas, the prophet turned into priapic puppetmaster, unveiling an insipid exploration of dubious morality through a parade of pseudo-shocking giant sex toys and pre-pube nudes – nothing more than manga monstrosities.

Back to top
Email Tweet Share

Share your thoughts

  • or log in into My Time Out
  • *
  • *
* Mandatory fields for leaving a comment