Featured Events in London in July 2025 (August Updated)

Celebrated for her work in establishing an architectural language that is both contemporary and deeply connected to a specific place, climate, context, culture, and history, Marina Tabassum brings her distinctive vision to the Serpentine Pavilion 2025. Her design evokes a meaningful dialogue between the permanent and ephemeral nature of the commission.

Both a celebration and a call to action, Design and Disability showcases the radical contributions of Disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people and communities to design history and contemporary culture, from the 1940s to now.

Featuring more than 150 works in drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture, installation and ceramics, this comprehensive exhibition offers audiences the opportunity to immerse themselves in Nara’s personal and creative worlds. Celebrated across the globe for his powerful portraits with eyes that gaze back at the viewer, and his drawings that engage with daily experiences, Nara is also known for his wood, fibreglass and ceramic sculptures as well as his installations of little houses. Nara’s work explores themes of resistance, rebellion, isolation, freedom and spirituality. This thematic exhibition reveals enduring influences on the artist’s work, particularly nature and its mythology, the peace movement, the significance of home, and his interest in punk and rock music and popular culture. Born in 1959 in Japan’s Aomori prefecture, Yoshitomo Nara completed the Master of Fine Arts programme at the Aichi University of the Arts in 1987. Nara subsequently moved to Germany in 1988 and began his enrolment at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. After residing in Cologne, he returned to Japan in 2000. He has exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in Europe, the United States, Japan, and Asia since the late 1990s.This is an expanded version of the touring exhibition from the Guggenheim, Bilbao, and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, featuring additional work, including early sculptures and new paintings.

Saatchi Yates presents a monumental summer exhibition, Once Upon a Time in London. The exhibition is a celebration of London, its artists and institutions, featuring commissioned works from contemporary artists as well as major loans drawing from the rich history, diversity and cultural scene of London. For decades, London has been a major artistic crossroad where artists have challenged conventions and redefined the artistic landscape.

Two exhibitions, two influential British artists, one ticket Edward Burra runs in parallel with an exhibition of works by Ithell Colquhoun, offering visitors the chance to see two influential British artists with one ticket.

Held every year without interruption since 1769, the Summer Exhibition showcases a diverse array of contemporary works, including prints, paintings, films, photography, sculpture, and architectural works. Spend the day exploring over 1,700 fabulous pieces by famous artists and members of the public, which have been selected by architect Farshid Moussavi RA and her Summer Exhibition committee.

The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award returns for 2025. The prestigious painting competition celebrates the very best in contemporary portraiture and will include captivating works from around the world, by both self-taught and more established painters.

This summer, visitors to the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace will see a special exhibition, The King’s Tour Artists, featuring over 70 works of art from His Majesty’s own collection, many on public display for the first time. In the spring of 1985, the then Prince of Wales invited, at his own expense, John Ward to join a royal visit to Italy as the official tour artist, with the brief to draw or paint whatever inspired him. For the past 40 years, official tour artists have been personally selected by The King to accompany him on royal overseas tours with the brief remaining largely unchanged throughout. Forty-two artists to have undertaken this role, who collectively have visited 95 countries during 69 tours, will be represented in the exhibition. The works on display in the Palace’s Ballroom, chosen from a selection made by The King, will provide glimpses of life on a royal tour, capturing the tone, colours and atmosphere in ways that differ from a photographic record.

Traditionally attributed to Gu Kaizhi (about AD 345–406), it probably dates to between AD 400 and 700. Due to conservation precautions, it can only be displayed for six weeks a year.The Admonitions Scroll depicts a poetic text composed by an official Zhang Hua (about AD 232–300) aimed at correcting the behaviour of an empress. The Scroll carries inscriptions by later collectors including the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–1795). The British Museum purchased the Scroll from Captain Clarence Johnson (1870–1937) who was in Beijing in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901). Originally a handscroll, the painting and later inscriptions were separated and mounted onto panels in 1914.

Featuring over 20 international artists, Virtual Beauty will delve into the influence of artificial intelligence, social media, and virtual identities on self-image. The exhibition will feature interactive installations and pioneering works that challenge traditional beauty standards. Highlights include ORLAN’s Omniprésence (1993), a groundbreaking performance in which the artist live-streamed her own facial aesthetic surgery to critique Western beauty ideals, and Amalia Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections, a powerful commentary on the authenticity of social media personas. Artificial intelligence’s perception of beauty will be examined through AI-generated portraits by Minnie Atairu, Ben Cullen Williams, and Isamaya Ffrench, while Harriet Davey, Frederik Heyman, and Andrew Thomas Huang explore digital self-expression and the creation of avatars beyond human boundaries.

How does our food today go from field to plate? How did food use to be produced in the past? And how will major advances in ecology and biotechnology change food in the future? Discover the answers to these and many more vital questions in an exciting new exhibition exploring how science is creating more sustainable ways of growing, making, cooking and eating food. From food production way back in ancient history to our industrialised systems of today, thought-provoking objects, hands-on interactive exhibits and compelling digital experiences will show us how we got here—and where we’re going.

With the hottest headliners and music legends both past and present, this is the ultimate festival experience that you do not want to miss!

Bringing together art from across Tate’s Collection, this exhibition highlights the connection between environmental and social justice, inviting us to reimagine our relationships with the natural world and each other. Artists Outi Pieski, Abbas Akhavan, Bruce Conner, Zheng Bo, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Edgar Calel and Carolina Caycedo feature, as well as a new commission by Abbas Zahedi. Through their work, these artists honor Indigenous knowledge, nurture queer multispecies relations and document issues such as displacement and destruction of land and waterways.

Explore the forgotten story of Indian Army soldiers who camped at Hampton Court Palace in the early 20th century, through a new exhibition of previously unseen objects, photographs, film and personal stories.

For centuries, portraiture has played a vital role in shaping the public’s perception of the Royal Family. This exhibition charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, bringing together photographic prints, proofs and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives. Discover works from the most celebrated royal photographers, from Cecil Beaton and Dorothy Wilding to Annie Leibovitz and Rankin. Explore some of the close relationships between royal sitters and photographers, seen most clearly through the lens of Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon), who married Princess Margaret in 1960.

See the first UK exhibition of Mexico’s much-loved artist, José María Velasco.Velasco, working in Mexico in the 19th century, was a man of many interests. He was fascinated by advances in geology, the archaeology of his home country, the study of local flora, and the increasing presence of industrialisation. He painted the sweeping landscapes of the Valley of Mexico, the home of modern-day Mexico City, with exquisite detail. His impressive panoramic views of the valley reveal allusions to Mexico's historic past and its rapidly modernising present.Velasco was keenly aware of his country’s industrialisation, capturing expanding train lines and factories alongside botanically accurate studies of plants. His scientific eye inspired his art, and his love of geology is clear to see in his detailed depictions of rocks and volcanoes. This exhibition, the first-ever dedicated to a Latin American artist at the National Gallery, marks the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the UK. And it celebrates Velasco’s place among the great 19th-century landscape painters.

Ed Atkins is best known for his computer-generated videos and animations. Repurposing contemporary technologies in unexpected ways, his work traces the dwindling gap between the digital world and human feeling. He borrows techniques from literature, cinema, video games, music and theatre to examine the relationship between reality, realism and fiction. This career-spanning exhibition features moving image works from the last 15 years alongside writing, paintings, embroideries and drawings. Together, they pit a weightless digital life against the physical world of heft, craft and touch. Atkins uses his own experiences, feelings and body as models to explore themes of intimacy, love and loss. For Atkins, the exhibition represents a reimagining of the messy, unravelling realities of life.

Showcasing the remarkable versatility and lasting influence of William Morris’s designs in popular culture, both in Britain and abroad. William Morris (1834-96) has gone viral. Today, we find his infinitely-reproduced botanical patterns on shower curtains, phone cases, on film and TV, and in all corners of our homes, dentist waiting rooms and shopping centres. One of our greatest designers, Morris argued that beautiful objects could only be created through a responsible and close relationship with the natural world and enjoyable, creative working conditions. These principles continue to influence subsequent generations of designers, makers and consumers today. Morris Mania will explore a complicated legacy. Over 125 years since his death, Morris’s work continues to grow in popularity. His patterns are now affordable, well-loved and available to people across the globe, something he failed to achieve in his lifetime. However, this has been achieved in the context of mass-production, computer-generated design, global capitalism and environmental crisis. Morris Mania will consider the ongoing impact of Britain’s most iconic designer in our increasingly cluttered and commodified world.

In our culture preoccupied with outward appearances, Dianne Minnicucci explores how vulnerability and discomfort in front of the camera can become acts of self-discovery and collaboration. She embraces the unease of being photographed – where to look, how to position the body – allowing these moments of uncertainty to shape this new series of portraits of herself and her young son.

Autograph is developing the first comprehensive exhibition of Eileen Perrier’s work. Since the 1990s, Perrier’s work has challenged the conventions of portraiture, reimagining the tropes of 19th-century European and contemporary African studio portraiture. Created with and within communities, her photography has evolved into a form of social engagement, acknowledging the profound value of being seen.

Enter the captivating world of leading contemporary artist Do Ho Suh. Korean-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh invites visitors to explore his large-scale installations, sculptures, videos and drawings in this major survey exhibition. Is home a place, a feeling, or an idea? Suh asks timely questions about the enigma of home, identity and how we move through and inhabit the world around us. With immersive artworks exploring belonging, collectivity and individuality, connection and disconnection, Suh examines the intricate relationship between architecture, space, the body, and the memories and the moments that make us who we are. Wander through the passages and thresholds of Suh's renowned fabric architectures. Discover his early installations, delicate works on paper and videos. Move across Seoul, New York and London through his life-sized replicas of past and present homes. Encounter sculptures that explore the tradition of monuments. Experience the breadth and depth of Suh’s inventive and unique practice over the last three decades, including new and site-specific works on display for the first time.

Curated by Shanay Jhaveri, the exhibition will feature major Giacometti works from the Giacometti Foundation, which will rotate with works by three contemporary artists for three months each—Barba will be the first of three exhibitions. Albert Giacometti (1901-1966) was one of the most important European sculptors of the twentieth century. His work, in response to the pain and destruction caused by World War II, offered new perspectives on human nature and the collective psyche. It is the exploration of these timeless and existential questions that forms the connection between the three living artists and Giacometti in this exhibition.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery presents Maison Démountable, one of Jean Prouvé’s models of the 6×6 house from 1944, which will be a permanent installation in Ladbroke Hall’s Garden. At the end of World War II, Ateliers Jean Prouvé was commissioned to build 800 temporary houses of 6×6 meters to be used in Lorraine and the Franche-Comté. Designers used this construction boom as an opportunity to experiment with new materials like metal and concrete, as well as to explore industrialised modes of production. These innovations were applied with the goal of improving the lives of the people interacting with them and the 6×6 house exemplifies Prouvé’s participation within this humanist design movement.

Discover works from the Museo Jumex, Mexico City, in a new collaboration with the SLG.This group exhibition in the Fire Station will share a curated selection of works from the international collection of Museo Jumex. Featured works bring together installation, sculpture, video, and photography by sixteen artists from around the world. Participating artists include Ana Pellicer and Tania Pérez Córdova from Mexico, Salla Tykkä from Finland, and Wilfredo Prieto from Cuba.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery presents new work by the Dutch designer Maarten Baas, whose practice integrates conceptual art, installation and performance. Building on his research into beauty and imperfection, the artist produces thought-provoking sculptures that explore subjects related to childhood, nature, freedom and time.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery presents an exhibition exploring the fusion of sculpture and jewellery in the practice of Sylvain Rieu-Piquet, where organic forms seamlessly merge with the human body. The Paris-based designer’s new Chimaera series is displayed alongside his Imagined Nature collection, both of which feature works that epitomise nature enhanced by heightened emotional responses.

Presenting Vas Florum: Resina Botanica, a new exhibition of work by Marcin Rusak, the multidisciplinary artist and designer known for using flowers and other organic matter to explore themes related to decomposition, preservation and the passage of time. Featuring new pieces that continue Rusak’s explorations of coffee tables, and vases as functional contemporary artworks, the exhibition is a tribute to the evocative power of plants to encapsulate memories of people and places.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery London presents Reflections, a show of work by the acclaimed British designer Paul Cocksedge. Illustrating the evolution of his imaginative and unorthodox practice, the exhibited pieces range from Cocksedge’s earlier work to his most recent, including new additions to the Slump series, all embodying his skill and precision with reflection, mass, materiality and light. Coinciding with the release of a new monograph, published by Phadion, dedicated to the designer, this display showcases key moments in Cocksedge’s career as it has unfolded in London over the past 12 years.

Having spent time in a prisoner of war camp, Claude Venard was initially consumed by the post-war despair which pervaded a liberated but traumatised Paris defined by Sartre’s existentialism, but he gradually found solace in forging a world of vibrant joyful colours lavished with thick layers of paint in exuberant enthusiasm, from Brittany to the Côte d’Azur. This bold visceral synthesis of Cubism, Fauvism, and Expressionism decribed as “Figurative Abstraction” in 1957 by the critic Waldemar George, established Venard as a leading light of the post-war era.

Mazzoleni presents Contemplatio, the first London solo exhibition in almost a decade by contemporary Italian artist Andrea Francolino. The exhibition offers a sanctuary for reflection, inviting visitors to contemplate the beauty found in both human and earthly imperfections.