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In a crowded field, The Serpentine is earily one of London’s most influential modern art galleries. Nestled in leafy Kensington Gardens, its pair venues on either side of Hyde Park’s winding artificial lake stage some of the most adventurous temporary art exhibitions in town, alongside huge names like Marina Abramović, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons.
The gallery has been on a solid run in recent months, with a well-received edition of its annual Serpentine Pavilion designed by Bangladeshi artist and architect Marina Tabassum, and two buzzy autumn shows in the first major solo exhibition from young British artist and video game designer Danielle Brathwaite Shirley and the latest show from Peter Doig – famed for being the most expensive living artist in Europe – inspired by sound system culture.
And there are more big shows on the horizon, with the Serpentine having just announced its 2026 programme, featuring two very different British painters, and Indian video artist and a landmark anniversary commission.
David Hockney
Kicking of 2026 is an already-announced show from one of Britain’s most iconic living artists, David Hockney (Mar 12-Aug 23) at Serpentine North. The octogenarian’s first exhibition with Serpentine will focus on recent works, including the celebrated Moon Room, reflecting the painter’s lifelong interest in the lunar cycle, plus several digital paintings created as part of his Sunrise series, paintings made on an iPad during a prolific period in spring 2020 when Britain was in lockdown.
Also featured will be A Year in Normandy, a ninety-metre-long frieze, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, showing the change of seasons at the artist’s Normandy studio, displayed in the run-up to the hugely anticipated arrival of the iconic original artwork at the British Museum in autumn 2026.
Cecily Brown
Coinciding with Hockney will be an exhibition by British abstract painter Cecily Brown (Mar 27-Sep 6) at Serpentine South. Featuring a series of brand new works inspired by the gallery’s leafy setting within Kensington Gardens, Brown’s Serpentine show marks her first solo exhibition in the UK since 2005, and represents something of a homecoming for the artist, who has been based in New York for the past three decades.
Serpentine Pavilion
As has been the case every year since 2000, summer will see the arrival of a brand new Serpentine Pavilion (Jun 6-Oct 26) in front of Serpentine South. The prestigious architectural commission turns 25 next year, an anniversary that will be celebrated via a series of talks programmed in collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation, the charitable organisation founded by the late Iraqi-British architect responsible for the inaugural Pavilion 25 years ago.
Amar Kanwar
Come autumn 2026, Serpentine North will host a major solo exhibition by Indian filmmaker Amar Kanwar (Sep 23-Jan 2027). The New Delhi-based artist is best known for his body of lyrical films, which move between documentary, travelogue and visual essay while exploring the legacies of decolonisation on the Indian subcontinent, incorporating the themes of violence, power, labour, indigenous rights, memory and censorship.
And as always, every exhibition in the Serpentine’s 2025 programme will be open to visitors free of charge, allowing as broad an audience as possible to experience this eclectic programme of contemporary art. Time to get your diary out and start planning!
And while you’re at it, here’s what’s on at the Courtauld in 2026
And here’s Somerset House’s blockbuster culture programme for next year
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