This underrated, tiny west London museum is celebrating its 100th birthday with a blockbuster year of exhibitions in 2026

Good things, as the saying goes, come in small packages. Behind the unassuming, well-aged residential stone wrapping of Kensington’s Leighton House is a mighty public museum that has been open for a whopping 100 years. 

Originally home to Victorian artist Lord Frederic Leighton, the address had a 19th-century stint as a children’s library before opening as a public museum in 1926. To celebrate its impressive birthday, the small-but-mighty institution is hosting an exciting array of exhibitions and workshops.

Leighton House is an explosion of colour, a melting pot of international influences and the result of careful conservation. What began as a palazzo-inspired, relatively modest artist’s dwelling gradually transformed with the addition of the Arab Hall and Silk Room, the former a work of art in its own right and the latter built to house artworks by Lord Leighton’s contemporaries.

The big one-oh-oh birthday season got off to an early start in October last year. Until March 1, it is hosting a triple-threat exhibition run.  

In Leighton House: A Journey Through 100 Years, curators have charted a century of transformation, tracing the building’s history as an artist’s home, a children’s library and a theatre museum with a selection of photographs and rarely-seen objects.

Ghost Objects: Summoning Leighton’s Lost Collection is a nod to the home’s artistic origins, exhibiting paper replicas of original objects. Bringing an extra dose of glamour to an already-sparkling venue is illustrator Annemarieke Kloosterhof (also known for set building on Bridgerton – you might remember her exploding paper bouquet from the Mondriches’ house-warming).

Rounding out the series for early 2026 is The View from Here, which promises to transport visitors to the Middle East and North Africa, the inspiration for Leighton House’s Arab Hall. In collaboration with Durham University’s Oriental Museum, contemporary artists respond to themes of migration and identity.

As the museum bids farewell to its winter houseguests, the spring season will usher in a new set of partygoers seeking the bright sun of its Arab Hall. The iconic room will have an exhibition dedicated to itself: The Arab Hall: Past and Present, which is running from March 21 to October 4 and features contemporary commissions and a special publication, with an accompanying film. Lord Leighton’s frequent travels abroad included trips to Turkey, Egypt and Syria, with a trip to Damascus inspiring the tiles lining the Arab hall. 

Wrapping up the exciting programme of celebrations will be Magic and Mess: The Artist’s Studio Revealed (October 31 to March 21 2027), which takes visitors back to Leighton House’s beginnings as an artist’s studio. The exhibition will explore the studio as a place of creativity, accompanied by works by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne.

On top of all that, there’s plenty more at Leighton House this year to get the creative juices flowing – including life drawing classes and recitals from the Kensington and Chelsea Music Association. Find out more on the museum website here.

Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Rd, W14 8LZ.

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