London exhibitions 2026: From Tracey Emin to Anish Kapoor
While the political and economic outlook for next year may appear as bleak as the one that preceded it, we can at least take some solace from a packed cultural calendar. London’s galleries are packed with exhibitions that promise to give art lovers a boost, from the biggest retrospective of Tracey Emin in decades to a huge new Anish Kapoor show and an in-depth stufy of Frida Kahlo. Here’s your guide to London exhibitions 2026.
Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life, Hayward Gallery
17 Feb – 3 May
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: nowhere in the UK is doing installation art quite like the Hayward Gallery. Continuing this trend is an immersive installation of work by Japanese visual artist Chiharu Shiota, who creates vast, immersive web-like structures subsuming everyday objects including shoes, keys, beds, chairs and dresses.
Tracey Emin, Tate Modern
27 February – 31 August 2026
A major retrospective of work by the Queen of Margate Tracey Emin is set to be one of the cultural highlights of the year, featuring work spanning Emin’s long and varied career, from an enfant terrible of the YBAs to a grand dame of the fine art world. Expect to see everything from her raw sketches dealing with personal trauma to her iconic My Bed installation.
- tate.org.uk
Rose Wylie, Royal Academy
28 February – 19 April 2026
Dubbed “the rebel painter of the British art world” by the Royal Academy, this exhibition will bring together both iconic artworks and brand-new paintings in the biggest exhibition of Rose Wylie’s work to date. Expect a retrospective packed with wry cultural references and musings on celebrity cultural, featuring a cast of characters including Elizabeth I, Nicole Kidman, Marilyn Monroe, Serena Williams and Snow White.
Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse, National Gallery
12 March – 31 May
Nobody painted horses quite like George Stubbs. This exhibition focuses on Stubbs’ iconic painting of the rearing racehorse Scrub, which he researched for 18 months and is still considered perhaps the finest equine portrait ever committed to canvas. There’s also a lifesize portrait of Scrub’s contemporary, Whistlejacket. If you’re into horses or simply the history of fine art, this is for you.
David Hockney, Serpentine Gallery
12 March – 23 August
For better or for worse, David Hockney shows no sign of slowing down, with his iconic portraits of hazy Los Angeles afternoons long-since replaced with garish iPad renderings of the French and British countryside. This exhibition brings Hockney’s ninety-metre-long frieze A Year in Normandy to London for the first time, placing it amidst the natural beauty of Kensington Gardens.
James McNeill Whistler, Tate Britain
21 May – 27 September
The first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years will show how the American visionary created portraits, drawings, prints and designs that would help to redefine fine art and place him in the cultural zeitgeist for 150 years and counting (those of a certain age may well have been introduced to Whistler’s work through the 1997 Mr Bean movie Bean).
- tate.org.uk
Summer Exhibition 2026, Royal Academy
16 June – 23 August
As inevitable as winter flu, the Royal Academy will return this summer with the latest instalment of the world’s longest-running open submission contemporary art show. Featuring over 1,200 works across painting, sculpture, print, film, photography, architecture and more, expect an overwhelming array of visual noise and thematic dissonance. And if you’re feeling flush, it’s almost all available to purchase.
Anish Kapoor, Hayward Gallery
16 June – 18 October
Another of the most host hotly anticipated shows of the year, Anish Kapoor will display work both new and old, including his experiments with “Vantablack”, a substance that uses nano-particles to absorb light, creating optical illusions of infinite depth, and a series of mirror sculptures that examine the place of the viewer in the artistic process.
Frida: The Making of an Icon, Tate Modern
25 June – 3 Jan 2027
From one iconic female artist to another at the Tate Modern, whose big summer opening will explore how Frida Kahlo became one of the most recognisable artists on the planet. Bringing together some 13 paintings, photographs a pieces of memorabilia, this promises to be a deep dive into one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th century.
- tate.org.uk
The 90s, Tate Britain
1 October – 14 February 2027
In these grim dog days of 2025, it’s easy to romanticise the swagger of the Cool Britannia era, when the YBAs ruled the art world and Oasis, Blur and Pulp soundtracked a generation. This exhibition will showcase iconic images by photographers including Juergen Teller, Nick Knight, David Sims and Corrine Day, works by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Yinka Shonibare, and fashion collections by Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.
- tate.org.uk
Renoir and Love, National Gallery
3 October – 31 January 2027
The National Gallery will play host to the most significant exhibition of French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work in the UK for 20 years. Bringing together 50 of his paintings, curators promise to explore his “most experimental, ambitious and admired canvases”, including the iconic Bal au Moulin de la Galette, which will be exhibited in the UK for the first time.