Top 10 exhibitions in London (updated for 2026)

A stroll through Tracey Emin: A Second Life is an evocative experience. Positioned as a 40-year retrospective through the pioneering artist’s vast and varied repertoire, the show lays bare Emin’s life through her distinct and often unsettling art, from career highs – such as the iconic, Turner Prize-nominated ‘My Bed’ (1998)– to stark personal lows in work depicting her experiences with sexual violence, abortion and recent life-threatening illness.

Why go: This exhibition perfectly encapsulates Emin’s defiant approach to life and her ability to turn traumatic experiences into mesmerising art. You’ll leave feeling emotionally rung out, but struck by the realisation that ‘Mad Tracey from Margate’ is truly a force to be reckoned with.

The first major European exhibition of James McNeil Whistler’s work in 30 years has arrived at Tate Britain. Known as a truly global aritst, The Victorian oil painter re-wrote many of the rules of art, and was an early adopter of ’art for art’s sake’. Through his landscapes of London and Paris you will discover his incredible knack for turning urban ugliness into visual harmony. As for his exquisite portraits, Whistler captured people in a way that was both emotionally rich, yet wonderfully simple.

Why go: This lavishly diverse collection of Whistler’s work singles him out as a relentless artist who was ceaselessly receptive to the world around him. His cosmopolitan scenes of London alone are worth the £24 price of entry.

From still lifes of plump, waxy lemons to monumental saints, bloodied martyrs and ecstatic Virgins, Baroque master Francisco de Zurbarán did it all. He painted vast multi-canvas scenes that once lined the walls of convents and monasteries across Spain, worked for private patrons, the court of Philip IV of Spain and clients across the Spanish Americas, where more than 100 of his paintings ended up. And now, improbably, many of them are here, in the artist’s first UK exhibition, thanks to loans from institutions including the Louvre Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museo del Prado. 

Why go? Zurbarán painted to inspire devotion with a total conviction, whether it was the flesh of Christ, the rough folds of a monk’s robe or the bloom on a lemon. Four centuries later, the paintings still inspire that same kind of awe and fixation in the people standing before them.

A first major solo show dedicated to Turner Prize-nominated painter Hurvin Anderson, this Tate Britain exhibition brings together more than 60 of his vibrant paintings. Dating from 1995 when he was an art student at the Royal College of Art up to this year (some he even finished off once they’d been hung), it’s a vibrant portrayal of his experiences as a Black British man of Caribbean heritage. 

Why go: This is a big show of big paintings. Big, energetic, vibrant, happy paintings which are just as enjoyable to stand in front of as one can imagine they were to make.

British sculptor Ryan Gander is at the helm of this year’s Summer Exhibition, working under the broad curatorial theme of ‘Interconnectness’. Which is just as well, given there are nearly 2,000 works that he’s chosen to fill the galleries of the London institution.

Why go: It might be overwhelming, but the plus side of having such a volume of works (which aren’t necessarily all coherent with each other) means there is somthing for everyone. See everything from paintings, sculptures, woodcuts and works from artworld big wigs like Frank Bowling, Gary Humes, Anselm Kiefer, and celebs like Harry Hill and Joe Lycett. 

There are some absolute treasures to be found in the first British exhibition dedicated to Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who became famous in Paris during the World Wars for her surreal designs and stunning creations. More than just a dressmaker, Schiaparelli was a close collaborator with Surrealists Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and Leonor Fini, whose works are displayed alongside the clothes. 

Who go: Spanning the 1920s to present day, this exhibition documents the dazzling and sometimes bizarre clothes created by Schiaparelli and her predecessor, current Schiparelli Creative Director Daniel Roseberry. You’ll see dresses worn by Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa, and world-famous artworks like Dalí’s lobster telephone. And the clothes are very, very pretty. 

This long-overdue retrospective of Windrush generation  ceramicist and painter Donald Locke concludes its three-venue UK tour at the Camden Arts Centre. Spanning painting, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics, it examines the legacy of colonialism in the Guyanese-British artist’s hometown via some of his most celebrated works, including large scale mixed media piece ‘Trophies of Empire’.

Why go: Donald Locke shows don’t come around often, so don’t miss the chance to get up close to these angry, claustrophobic yet beautifully crafted works, ranging from wild, black paintings to intricate assemblages of found objects and ceramic pieces that suggest cages or instruments of violence.

Anish Kapoor’s second solo show at the Hayward Gallery (his last was in 1998) gathers together many of Turner-winning artist’s greatest hits, alongside some monumental new works. Here you will see hulking great sculptures caked in thick crimson oil paint, enormous PVC bulges, and some mind-bending optical illusions. 

Why go: Kapoor’s depthless voids – sculptures of black holes that use a shade that absorb 99.965 percent of visible light, holding the world record for the darkest manmade substance –
are Kapoor at his best; they make you think, they intrigue you, they encourage you to drag a friend over and test whether their eyes can be fooled too. More than simple optical tricks, these pieces expose how fragile perception really is.

Since she died in 1962 – aged just 36, and already perhaps the most famous person on the planet – Marilyn Monroe has transcended mere stardom to become an icon: the image of glamour, sex, tragedy and celebrity itself. Marking what would have been her 100th birthday, the National Portrait Gallery grapples with that iconic status in a show that’s both beautiful and troubling.

Why go: Here you will see world-famous works by Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The show is an onslaught of images – gorgeous, brilliant, occasionally disturbing – of Marilyn Monroe, the troubled superstar.

For the Barbican Sculpture Court’s grand revival, Colombian artist Delcy Morelos spent a month filling the brutalist courtyard with earth and clay. Working by hand, Morelos and her team layered more than ten tonnes of the stuff to create origo, a mammoth, multi-sensory installation stretching 24 metres wide and 12 metres high, named after the Latin word for ‘origin’.

Why go: Visitors are invited to bask in the multi-sensory experience of entering origo. Inside, you will be plunged into darkness, and will smell the scents of clove and cinnamon that are infused in the loam.