AboutLondon Laura – January 2026
Happy New Year! Did you try any of my recommendations from last month? I had an enjoyable, if exhausting, week in London and ticked a lot off the list. All of these exhibitions are free to visit (listed in order of closing dates).
Recommended Galleries
Flowers Gallery, Cork Street W1
Small is Beautiful is a fascinating collection of small artworks. Walk around with the price list and be amazed at how differently artists value their work.
Ends 10th January 2026
Museum of the Home, Hoxton E2
Winter Past is the perfect excuse to revisit what many of us still call the ‘Geffrye Museum’ for the annual festive decorating of the domestic room-sets through history.
Ends 11th January 2026
Woodfield Pavilion, Streatham SW16
Woodfield Winter Exhibition is a group show from 45 local artists. The artwork is incredibly well-priced, and you get to meet some of the creators.
Ends 1st February 2026
Barbican Music Library, EC2
Blondie in Camera 1978 is a wonderful collection of photos and memorabilia.
Ends 21st February 2026
Alon Zakaim Fine Art, Mayfair W1
Cubism: Many Angles, One Vision features big names from the movement, including Picasso. This one-room gallery has sculptures, paintings and drawings.
Ends 27th February 2026
Annely Juda Fine Art, Hanover Square, W1
David Hockney is a fabulous, two-floor exhibition. It’s bright and joyous.
Ends 28th February 2026
William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow E17
Women in Print: 150 Years of Liberty Textiles spills out of the temporary exhibition room to the upstairs galleries. It’s worth seeing, but avoid Sundays as it’s overrun with ‘family time’ visitors.
Ends 21st June 2026
The Brown Collection, Marylebone W1
Hoi Polloi is a wonderful find! Four floors of Glenn Brown’s artworks, with amazing pieces that inspired him from his own personal collection. You’ll see pieces from the 17th century next to artworks created in 2025. I’ll definitely return here.
Ends 8th August 2026
Month-by-Month 2026
January
Winter can be mentally tough, so it seems fitting to highlight Kindred at the Bethlem Museum of the Mind. It explores how community – or its glaring absence – affects people’s lives, spirits and identities. This is located at the pioneering museum at the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital, and all of the artists have been service users.
February
It’s hard to choose one recommendation because there are many new openings this month. But for the sheer joy, let’s go with Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends at the Young V&A, celebrating the animation studio’s 50th anniversary.
March
Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse is a free exhibition at the National Gallery. Stubbs is considered an equine master, so this will be a joy to see. There will also be other paintings and drawings by the artist on display.
April
V&A East Museum opens on 18th April 2026. Rooted in east London’s heritage, it’ll explore what shapes our world. Two galleries explore why we make, alongside a major exhibition space, restaurant, shops and social spaces all housed in a new building.
May
Do you remember the 2007/8 Henry Moore exhibition at Kew Gardens? It was fab, so we’re lucky to have Henry Moore: Monumental Nature this year. It’s the largest-ever outdoor presentation of his work, with over 100 pieces.
June
Tate Modern has Frida: The Making of an Icon, offering an in-depth exploration of how Frida Kahlo became one of the most influential artists of modern times. There will be Kahlo’s best-known paintings, as well as photographs and memorabilia from her archives, in dialogue with artists she inspired from future generations.
July
Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam is at the Royal Academy. It’s Victorian fairytale worlds from a man who went ‘mad’. The painstaking detail is what’s going to impress.
August
Nothing is yet notable about August openings, so I’ll recommend a visit to the Hayward Gallery to see Anish Kapoor (opens in June). This landmark exhibition focuses on the artist’s recent work alongside early seminal artworks.
September
See the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum (dates tbc). The 70-metre artwork depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings. This will be the first time that the tapestry has been shown in the UK since it was made, almost 1,000 years ago. Yeah, this one is going to be very popular.
October
Renoir and Love at the National Gallery will be the most significant exhibition of the French Impressionist’s work in the UK for 20 years.
November
Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant is at Tate Modern. It’s an exploration of the 50-year relationship and creative partnership between two celebrated modern British artists. It features over 250 works, including portraits, still lives, landscapes, decorative works on furniture, ceramics, and a once-in-a-lifetime restaging of Duncan Grant’s studio, specially relocated from his Sussex home, Charleston.
December
There’s all the obvious Christmas stuff going on every year. But to escape it all, head to the National Gallery for Van Eyck: The Portraits (opens November 2026). The exhibition brings together for the first time, from across Europe, all nine of the artist’s painted portraits.
