As London prepares for an extraordinary year of visual arts in 2026, the city’s galleries and museums are revealing their most ambitious programs to date.
Tracey Emin makes a triumphant return with “A Second Life” at Tate Modern, presenting over 90 works spanning painting, video, textiles, neon, and sculpture from February through August.
Meanwhile, David Hockney‘s exhibition at Serpentine North will showcase his 90-metre frieze “A Year in Normandy” alongside digital paintings like “Sunrise” and “Moon Room,” marking UK premieres for these significant works.
The Hayward Gallery celebrates its 75th anniversary with a landmark Anish Kapoor exhibition curated by Ralph Rugoff, featuring new monumental works alongside seminal pieces from the artist’s career.
Remarkably absent from major programming is Kapoor himself, who has taken a step back from public appearances.
The National Portrait Gallery will host Catherine Opie‘s “To Be Seen,” her first major UK museum show, examining three decades of photographic portraits exploring queer communities, highlighting the visibility of queer identities through family and home settings.
London Gallery Weekend enters its fifth year with 126 participating spaces showcasing cutting-edge performances, digital experiments, and bold textile art.
Small galleries continue to show resilience post-Brexit, with many clustering near Farringdon, including South Parade, which highlights Judith Dean’s innovative paintings created from Wikimedia imagery.
The London Art Fair 2026 introduces “The Unexpected,” a platform curated by Dr. Ferren Gipson that explores boundaries of materiality and process. The 38th edition will feature masterpieces from National Trust collections that showcase modernist experimentation and design from properties like 2 Willow Road and The Homewood.
Visitors to the Young V&A can experience the Inside Aardman exhibition featuring Wallace & Gromit and other beloved characters through an interactive display of models and storyboards.
International presence strengthens with debut exhibitors including Avant Dev from Mexico City, showcasing Murakiit’s blend of pixel art aesthetics with traditional painting and textile techniques.
Art trends for 2026 include a return to Naïve Art, Distorted Portraiture, and Hyperindividualism, with illustration trends emphasizing hand-painted and hand-drawn techniques.
The V&A East‘s opening and the Royal Academy‘s Summer Exhibition further cement London’s position as a global art destination, offering visitors unprecedented access to both established masters and emerging talents.
