London events in February 2026

The Tate Modern kicks off its 2026 programme with a retrospective tracing the 40-year career of Croydon’s finest artistic export, Tracey Emin. Over 90 pieces will be exibited in the landmark exhibition, including some of the Young British Artist’s most defining works, from her famous neons and her controversial Turner Prize-nominated installation My Bed, to painting, video, textiles and never-before-exibited sculptures. Expect plenty of raw, confessional art exploring love, trauma and the female body.

The National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts and National Portrait Gallery are just three of the numerous West End art institutions taking part in this year’s Art After Dark. Spanning one week in February, the art and music focused programme includes a DJ takeover at the National Gallery, live performances at BOX Piccadilly and Haymarket Hotel and an after hours gallery crawl through the West End. The centrepiece of the whole thing is a towering art installation named ‘Rise and Shine’ by London-based artist Lakwena Maciver. Her trippy 7m tall stack of disco lightboxes will stand in the middle of Piccadilly Circus channelling the energy of ’80s and ’90s London nightlife.  

Remember that one-woman Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook? Well the Australian team behind it have made a couple of other high-tech one-woman stage adaptations of classic Victorian horror novels. And in 2026 Dracula will come to London with a proper big name at its centre: Cynthia Erivo, in her first West End role in over a decade.

LGBTQ+ history shouldn’t be contained to a single, short month every year. Thankfully, in London you can find some of the best gay bars and queer club nights in the world, along with special events that celebrate LGBTQ+ life, all year round. But things really hit their peak in February, when hundreds of talks, workshops and festivals appear for LGBTQ+ History Month. From film screenings and alt-cabaret to queer history lectures and family-friendly crafts, prepare to be enlightened, inspired and entertained by a rainbow of celebratory events taking place across the capital. Here’s our round-up of our favourites. 

Michael Sheen recently put his screen career on hold in order to lead and launch the new Welsh National Theatre. He’ll star in its first production, a revival of Thornton Wilder’s metatheatrical masterpiece ‘Our Town’, which transfers to London after touring Wales.

Wilder’s ahead of its time 1938 play about the lives and – slight spoiler – afterlives of the citizens of the US small town of Grover’s Corner is a classic that’s always welcome. But clearly Sheen himself is the secret ingredient here: who doesn’t want to see him on stage?

Between 1885 and 1890, OG Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat spent five summers observing the port towns along the northern coast of France, capturing impressive seascapes, regattas and other oceanic activities. Twenty three of these paintings, oil sketches and drawings are to be showcased at the Courtauld from February next year, offering a nautical insight into this elusive French artist. The exhibition will borrow works from world-class galleries including MOMA and the Musée d’Orsay, making it even more worth the peek.

Whether you’re flying solo, newly coupled up, or have been with your other half for decades, London is a great place to be on Valentine’s Day. There’s something for everyone on February 14 no matter what your relationship status: eccentrically themed speed-dating nights, ironic drag show, galentine’s parties or warm, fuzzy date spots for all those loved-up couples out there. We’ll be updating this page with our pick of the best as events are announced.

The NPG will be the UK’s first museum to stage an exhibition focussing on Lucain Freud’s works on paper, including some artworks seen on display for the first time. Focussing on Freud’s mastery of drawing in all forms, Drawing into Painting will look at the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the human face and figure, from the 1930s to the early 21st century.

The Six Nations Men’s rugby tournament is back for 2026. From February 5, it will be taking over pubs, beer gardens and outdoor screens across London most weekends up until Saturday March 14. 

France took home the title in 2025. In 2026 games take place at venues including Paris’ Stade de France, Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, and London’s very own Twickenham Stadium as England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales try to burst the French team’s bubble.

You’ll find the matches on screens at London’s many rugby pubs and bars, but if you want to watch with the most atmos possible, get yourself to one of our favourite places to grab a seat and a pint and get stuck into all the action.

New festival Equanimity is designed to help Londoners reset and recharge in the heart of King's Cross. The centrepiece is Slomo's pop-up spa, which offers two wood-fired saunas, three cold plunge pools and a roaring fire, offering a corner of Scandinavia in Lewis Cubitt Square. On Sundays, the Slomo tipi will offer somatic breathwork sessions and Reset Retreats. There'll also be yoga, breathwork, meditation and sound healing sessions led by a range of expert practitioners, perfect for adding some relaxation to your lunchbreak.

The Christmas holidays barely feel like they’re over but oh look: here’s our old pal February half-term, back again. Dealing with the little ones for a week in the middle of what is arguably the bleakest month of the year is always a bit of a shock to the system. But fear not! By way of acknowledgement of all this London really steps up with the indoor activities challenge, with the annual Imagine festival at the Southbank Centre as ever leading the way for a week in which there’s in fact plenty to do. Read on for our top tips. 

Groundbreaking Colombian artist Beatriz González gets her first solo UK show – and biggest ever European show – at the Barbican this spring. Famed for her vibrant, Pop Art-influenced depictions of Colombia during the decade-long civil war known as La Violenca and known in her native country as ‘la maestra’, González draws on found images to tell stories about power, grief, conflict, community and more. Featuring over 150 artworks made between the 1960s and the present day and spanning painting, sculpture, furniture and monumental printed curtains, this major will look at Gonzalez’s work not only from a Colombian and Latin American perspective, but a global one. 

British painter Rose Wylie takes on films, celebrities and ancient civilisations in her work. Often focusing on women, she paints colourful bold lines with a punk abandon, depicting figures from Elizabeth I to Nicole Kidman. The Royal Academy of Arts will bring the largest selection of her work to date to the capital this February, showcasing her adventurous, socially observant paintings to a wider audience.

Put a spring in your step with the National Theatre's gorgeous, lively show about three adopted sisters with big ambitions. This family-friendly hit is full of leftfield wit and creativity as it shows how they achieve their dreams of ballet dancing, acting... and being a car mechanic. It returned for the 2025 festive season after a hit run the previous year, but this story is definitely too good to be just for Christmas. 

After two exhibitions that could loosely fall under the category of ‘world history’ – Japan: Myths to Manga and Making Egypt – the Young V&A’s third temporary exhibition goes for a different tack in offering a celebration of and behind the scenes look at beloved British animation studio Aardman. It’s a journey through Aardman’s numerous iconic characters – from Morph to Shaun the Sheep and of course Wallace and Gromit – with a heavy emphasis on hands on exhibits and learning how the stop motion animation process works: young visitors will even be able to make a little animation of their own. Although all ages are welcome, it’s especially aimed at children aged eight to 14. As ever with Young V&A, paying for admission once allows you to come back any time during the life of the exhibition.

Yes, nobody – apart from possibly children – looks forward to the February half-term, but at least it’s invariably blessed with the Southbank Centre’s Imagine festival, a mix of family-oriented shows and workshops, play experiences and exhibitions, music, art and literature that’ll keep youngsters diverted February 11-21. There are events for kids of all ages (from babies to pre-teens) with many of them free, ranging from communal singalong sessions to dance workshops. 

Highlights of the 2026 edition include the self-explanatory An Evening with Jaqueline Wilson and Rachael Dean (Feb 15) where the legendary childen’s author and her illustrator will discuss their works; Quentin Blake’s Mrs Armitage on Wheels (Feb 18-21) is a new puppet-based musical based on Blake’s book; the Unicorn’s fun The Princess and the Pea (pictured) will be calling in Feb 14-20; The Show for Young Men (Feb 13-15) is a funny, heartfelt physical theatre show for older children about contemporary masculinity; and for young ’uns there’s a day of musical performances from CBeebies stalwarts Andy and the Odd Socks (Feb 15).

There’s plenty more besides including a significant number of free shows – check the Southbank Centre website for full listings.

This heartstring-tugging new musical was a hit at Chichester Festival Theatre, before heading to the West End to brighten up our collective Februaries. It's adapted by Rachel Joyce from her own hit novel-turned-movie about the eponymous 65-year-old man, who walks the length of England to say goodbye to his colleague. The songs in Katy Rudd’s production are by indie musician Passenger, and Mark Addy and Jenna Russell will reprise their roles as Harold and his wife Maureen in this limited run transfer.

It’s with grimly perfect timing that Tom Stoppard’s undoubted masterpiece – the jewel in the crown of one of the most remarkable bodies of work by any playwright ever – gets its first major London revival in ages less than two months after his death. Arcadia is a tremendously witty meditation on the nature of history, truth, sex, mathematics and more that skips between two timelines. Carrie Cracknell directs.

Contemporary dance heads have long been awaiting the UK premiere of Sweet Mambo, an expressionist dance work by the legendary Pina Bausch which explores human emotion in its many forms. Although it was first staged in 2008, this Sadlers Wells outing is the first time it’s been shown in London, so this is a pretty big deal. 

Short films are where many of the greats – Martin Scorsese, Lynne Ramsay, Paul Thomas Anderson et al – got started, and for over two decades, the London Short Film Festival has been a trusty showcase of new talents and small, but perfectly formed short films. Returning for its 22nd year, the 2025 edition features a whopping 204 new shorts across more than 60 programmes, as well as a bunch of talks, workshops and walking tours. Loads of great cinemas and arts spaces across the city are hosting screenings, including the BFI Southbank, the ICA, Rich Mix, the Rio and SET Peckham. Highlights of the programme include the opening night which features new work from Andrea Luka Zimmerman and John Smith who delve into their own lives as artists across the decades, from Smith’s emergence in the early 70s artschool scene to Zimmerman’s own forays into 90s music and fashion; Trans Sister Seventies! featuring newly unearthed archival shorts charting the trans-feminine experience of the 1970s; My Eye Is My Ear – a selection of new UK short films exploring Deaf lives, culture and identity; Everybody’s Darling: Melodrama in 80s & 90s Punk Cinema – a series of short films platforming women and queer artistes and the legacy of Warhol’s ‘superstars’, John Waters’ trash cinema and the Cinema of Transgression and a night of films exploring emo subculture in the early 2000s. 

The landmark exhibition at the British Museum will trace the evolution of the Japanese warrior class over the past 1,000 years, exploring how their image came to be what it is today. From ther medieval period to the present day, this major exhibit will bring together 280 objects to illustrate how the Samurai came to be known as armour-clad warriors, fighting epic duels, and following a strict code of honour. But it will also explore how ideas of Samurai have been fabricated, idealised and adapted, dispelling the myths and revealing their true history. 

Ever watched Finding Nemo or Inside Out and wondered what it would be like to exist inside those marvelous worlds created by Pixar animation studio? Well, wonder no more – the Mundo Pixar Experience is a travelling immersive show that has been transporting Pixar fans to some of its most beloved universes. And this year, it‘s coming to London. The show essentially a journey through a series of 14 rooms, one dedicated to a different Pixar film. You shrink down to toy size in Andy’s Room from Toy Story, explore the Monster, Inc Scare Floor, race into Flo’s Café from Cars to meet Lightning McQueen, visit the Headquarters of Riley’s emotions from Inside Out 2, and journey from Coco’s Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead. To make the experience all the more ‘immersive’ there will be ‘specially crafted scents’ filling each space. 

A citywide mega-exhibition involving dozens of galleries from around the world, Condo is the best thing that happens in the London art world every January. The idea is that commercial galleries from over here invite galleries from over there to share their spaces for a month. The 2026 edition sees 50 international galleries showing across 23 spaces. They include Sadie Coles HQ hosting Sans Titre from Paris, The Sunday Painter hosting Jhaveri Contemporary from Mumbai, Hollybush Gardens hosting Galerie Tschudi from Zurich, Public hosting Pruyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala City and loads, loads more. It’s a chance to see what contemporary art from all around the world looks like, and also to judge London’s art hipsters flocking between venues on their terrible choices in jackets and winter footwear. 

For 24 years, Kinoteka has been highlighting the creativity and magic of Polish cinema in London, taking over some of the most-respected cinema locations with offerings from the Slavic country. This year will be no different so get down to the likes of BFI Southbank, the ICA and more to discover some new cinematic treasures. The festival has a tradition of putting on retrospectives of great Polish directors, and in 2026 it’s the turn of Andrzej Wajdas. The opening gala on February 4 will show Wajdas's classic 1958 film Ashes and Diamonds from a 35mm print, and there’ll be Q&As, talks and an exhibition celebrating him in the following weeks. Other programme highlights include the UK premiere Agnieszka Holland's Kafka biopic Franz at BFI IMAX, a screening of The Good Boy starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough from Corpus Christi director Jan Komasa and a showing of award-winning documentary Trains from Maciej J. Drygas. 

Find out what the UK's most promising fine art graduates have been up to in this annual showcase of up-and-coming talent from across the UK, which is now in its 76th year. Featuring 22 exhibitors selected by renowned artists Pio Abad, Louise Giovanelli and Grace Ndiritu, the London leg of the exhibition this year takes place at Camberwell’s South London Gallery

The Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens is taking a voyage to China this February, courtesy of the latest annual mind-bending orchid display that takes over the iconic glasshouse each year. As ever, the exotic display will celebrate the natural beauty and biodiversity of its subject country: China is home to thousands of varieties of orchid, plus vast amounts of other flora and fauna besides.  

Look out for sculptures of dragons and Chinese lanterns, as well as intricately woven plant installations. There’ll also be  ticketed after-hours events with live Chinese music, food, cocktails and dance performances. 

Entry to the display is included in general entry to Kew Gardens.

A new free photography exhibition illustrates the beauty and fragility of the Pantanal – the world’s largest wetland that sprawls across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Over 60 images, captured by two of Brazil’s leading documentary photographers, will be displayed. Visitors will discover the Pantanal’s wonderful biodiversity – which includes jaguars, howler monkeys, caiman and marsh deer – alongside the ravages of wildfires and deforestation. 

If you thought you’d have to wait until 2027 for another global women’s football tournament, think again. In January and February, London will host the final rounds of the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup. The new competition brings together the champions from six different continental tournaments, with UEFA Champions League winners Arsenal repping Europe. The semi finals between the Gunners and ASFAR (from Morocco), and Gotham FC (the US) and the Corinthians (Brazil) will take place at Brentford FC’s Gtech Community Stadium while the third place play-off and grand final will be held at Emirates Stadium. 

Although his glory days were undoubedly in the middle of the twentieth century, Arthur Miller’s late works still pack a punch, and none more so than 1994’s Broken Glass, which was his final original play to transfer to Broadway. Revived here a couple of times since to acclaim, it follows a New York Jewish couple with a troubled marriage who are physically stricken down just as the events of Kristalnacht unfold. In his first non-musical production since hitting the big time, rising star Jordan Fein directs a cast headed by Pearl Chanda, Eli Gelb and Nancy Carroll.