Free things to do in London this week

To reach Life on the Land, the National Gallery’s exhibition on the nineteenth century French artist Jean-Francois Millet, you have to walk through rooms of the museum filled with centuries’ worth of grand portraits of society’s upper crust. On arrival, surrounded by dusky-toned renderings of outdoor labour, it might take a moment to adjust. Stoicism abounds here, its head bowed and its eyes averted. You won’t find any grandeur or pomp in this concise exhibition of 15 muted and unflashy works, but you’ll experience an intensity rarely achieved in the portraits of nobility in the adjacent rooms. Millet’s images of peasants at work are rhythmic and visceral, unsentimental but deeply sensitive in their depictions of the beauty and harshness of a life working the land. The former can be found in the scenes’ wide horizons and the figures that punctuate them. The latter is best distilled in a detail of The Winnower (c. 1847–8), whose subject’s clogs are stuffed with hay to keep his feet warm. The exhibition’s centrepiece, L’Angelus (1859), is here on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Like most of the work here, its ornate gilded frame feels incongruous with the painting itself, in which two shadowy figures stand statuesque in a twilit field, a basket of potatoes sitting on the ground between them. They could be staring at the ground, though their eyes, obscured by the enclosing darkness, might be closed. Just visible through lacy mist on the horizon is a church spire. The...

Once again you can expect to see remarkable feats of astrophotography at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition. It’s a chance to see magical views of both our own night sky and of galaxies far, far away. The winning spacey visions come from dozens of professional and amateur snappers in various categories including ‘Planets, Comets and Asteroids’, ‘Stars and Nebulae’, ‘Galaxies’ and ‘Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year’ for under-16s. Soar down to Greenwich to see the winners from 2025's competition on display. 

It feels a bit like Oktoberfest all year round at Munich Cricket Club, but it really takes the Bavarian joy up a notch as the season approaches. From mid September til the end of October, the spirit of the fest will take over its Canary Wharf, Tower Hill and Victoria locations. Expect foaming steins, platters of sausage and a live oompah band to get the vibes flying. Dancing on tabletops is encouraged – just be careful not to slip on any saus. The festivities also include the ceremonial tapping of the Oktober barrel, straight from Munich, plus games, silliness and surprises. There's also a bottomless cheese fondue brunch for anyone looking to test their digestive system to its very limits. 

Lawrence Lek’s largest UK institutional exhibition is set to take over Goldsmiths CCA later this year, with the artist responding to the gallery’s architecture through both new and existing work. The London-based creative’s work is often dark and playful, and fuelled by his own brand of science-fiction that raises questions around the age of machine consciousness and social change.

Photography fans will want to train their lenses east this October. Annual month-long festival PhotoMonth is celebrating the printed image in venues from Mile End to Clerkenwell to Hackney to Deptford. An eclectic array of spaces will exhibit photography, including big institutions like Whitechapel Gallery, indie venues including Four Corners, and unusual locations such as shops, restaurants and cafes. The festival's hub is at Art Pavilion in Mile End, which will display a group exhibition called 'Longing'. There'll also be a new exhibition from Zed Nelson called 'The Anthropocene Illusion,' which interrogates the troubled relationship between humans and the environment. There'll also be around 50 pop-up exhibitions at locations across east London: download the fest's interactive map to find them all. 

As part of the Tate Modern’s 25th birthday celebrations back in May, the gallery announced that it would be extending its opening times on Fridays and Saturdays, welcoming visitors until 9pm twice a week for some evening art viewing. And to celebrate the first Friday of the new hours, the Tate’s Corner Bar is collaborating with King’s Cross-based community station Voices Radio for an evening of improv jazz and natural wine.  Guests stopping by for the late opening can enjoy a curated selection of wines from the Tate’s cellar alongside low-intervention picks from the Pour Choices Wine Fair while a roster of London jazz scene heavyweights including Myele Manzanza, Rio Kai, Mei Kerby and Poppy Daniels provide the soundtrack. There’ll also be vinyl DJ sets for Kit Lockey and boardgames to play for free between sets, and the bar stays open until 11pm, so there’ll be lenty of time to catch an exhibition and stop by for a nightcap. 

The annual conker smasher is back for 2025, with Londoners of all ages gathering on Parliament Hill by the bandstand to try their luck in the very British battle. Arrive by 12.30pm for registration if you’re serious about competing: there are separate categories for under-eights, 8-12s, 13-17s, and adults. Conkers are provided and rules and adjudication provided by the Grand Conker Meiste (so you can stop all that vinegar-soaking for starters).  There'll also be live music in the bandstand, and hands on nature activities led by local conservation groups.

In celebration of Black History Month, central London event space The Outernet has teamed up with Black British platform Seasoned for an exhibition about what it means to be Black and British. Screened across the venue’s wraparound LED screens, it features responses to research done by the Runnymede Trust which found that nearly two thirds of Black Britons feel that racism in the UK has worsened in the last five years. Passersby are free to stop in at the open-air venue to check out the display, which runs for the majority of Black History Month and promises to be ‘a vibrant portrait of the diversity, creativity and resilience of Black Britain today’. Visitors are also encouraged to donate to the Runnymede Trust, a charity which works tirelessly to challenge structural racism in the UK. 

The British Urban Film Festival will return in October, with screenings at Shoreditch’s Rich Mix, Whitechapel’s Genesis Cinema and the Odeon Greenwich, plus live script readings at Islington’s Hens and Chickens pub theatre in collaboration with Unrestricted View Film Festival. Expect works by filmmakers and creatives who don’t always get mainstream recognition and platforming to be shown, with the programme to be confirmed in the coming months.