The best of the summer weather is behind us, making day trips to central London a wet and windy ordeal. But as the days grow shorter and the skies darken, the art and culture world gears up for a new season of excitement as the capital’s major museums and galleries open their doors to a series of temporary exhibitions. Here is a taste of the best exhibitions opening this autumn:
National Gallery, ‘Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers’
From now – January 19, 2025
The National Gallery is hosting a ‘once in a century’ exhibition of van Gogh’s most famous works. Featuring ‘Starry Night over the Rhône’, ‘The Yellow House’ and ‘Sunflowers’, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see a wide range of the Dutch painter’s work in the UK. The exhibition focuses on the years van Gogh spent in the south of France, which changed his style, and even reconstructs his favorite places in Saint-Rémy.
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Tate Gallery, ‘Turner Prize 2024’
25 September 2024 – 16 February 2025
The annual Turner Prize exhibition showcases the best of contemporary British art. This year the four nominated artists are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas. The exhibition will feature an eclectic mix of drawings, paintings, sculptures and textile art, with themes as diverse as colonial history, marginalization, death and renewal. The winner of the award will be announced on December 3, 2024, but the exhibition will continue into the new year.
£14, under 25s £5. Pre-booking is now open.
British Museum, “Silk Roads”
Our conventional idea of the Silk Road imagines it as a one-way route carrying silk and spices from the bazaars of the East to the markets of the West. But the British Museum’s new exhibition redefines the Silk Roads – plural – as a set of networks spanning Asia, Africa and Europe between AD 500-1000. The exhibition will display objects from across the Silk Roads, which tell the stories of the people who built it.
From £22, under 16s free. Pre-booking is now open.
The Barbican, ‘The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998’
5 October 2024 – 5 January 2025
In 1975, India was thrown into a state of emergency under the rule of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which suspended civil liberties and elections for just under two years. Featuring works by over thirty Indian artists, the Barbican Art Gallery’s exhibition begins with this year of uncertainty, which, while marked by tumult, was key to defining the nation as we know it today. The exhibition explores and revisits this period through works by contemporary Indian artists including Tyeb Mehta, Nalini Malani and MF Husain, across a variety of media including photography, painting and sculpture.
From £20, under 14s free. Pre-booking is now open.
Garden Museum, “Lost Gardens of London”
23 October 2024 – 2 March 2025
Once upon a time Waterloo station wasn’t Waterloo station – in fact it was a botanic garden. Lambeth-based Garden Museum’s new exhibition looks under the hood of modern London to discover the city’s long-standing relationship with its green spaces. The exhibition reveals the “thousands of gardens” that have been lost over the years and reconstructs them through paintings, photographs and maps.
From £15, under 6s free. Pre-booking is now open.
Courtauld Gallery, ‘Monet and London. View of the Thames
27 September 2024 – 19 January 2025
While we’re on the subject of exhibitions about London, the Courtauld is launching an exhibition focusing on French impressionist painter Claude Monet and his paintings of the River Thames. The series of three scenes depicts Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. This London exhibition fulfills a dream of Monet himself, whose plans to exhibit the paintings in London came to fruition during his lifetime; the paintings have never been the subject of a British exhibition until now.
From £16, under 18s free. Pre-booking is now open.
British Library, “Medieval Women: In Their Own Words”
25 October 2024 – 2 March 2025
It is often believed that the women of medieval Europe were illiterate as a rule, this exhibition exposes that perception as completely untrue. With texts in manuscripts, inscriptions and embroideries, the exhibition shows the rich variety of medieval women’s experiences found in the texts they created. Discover lyrics included The Queen’s Book by Christine de Pizan, the first professional female writer from Europe, and The Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, the first English-language work definitely written by a woman.
£17, under 11s free. Pre-booking is now open.
Royal Academy of Arts, ‘Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael’
9 November 2024 – 16 February 2025
A rivalry gripped Florence in the early 16th century, when Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci competed for the attention and patronage of the wealthy citizens. This exhibition explores this rivalry and the relationship between the three greats of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael – through their extraordinary drawings and sketches.
£21, under 16s free. Pre-booking is now open.
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