Summer art exhibitions in London: July and August 2025

It’s summertime in the city, and with it comes a fresh wave of exhibition openings across London. The Royal Academy leads the season with Kiefer/Van Gogh, an ambitious pairing of two artists drawn together by shared intensity and symbolism. Elsewhere, Millet: Life on the Land opens at the National Gallery, offering a quiet, powerful look at rural life, while Yoshitomo Nara’s dreamlike world takes over the Hayward Gallery. A number of excellent spring shows also continue into the summer — from Grayson Perry’s playful takeover of the Wallace Collection to Leigh Bowery! at Tate Modern.

As an art history teacher based in London, summer is when I finally get time to see everything I’ve been meaning to catch. Below are my picks for the best art exhibitions to see in London this summer — from major retrospectives to thoughtful free shows in some of the city’s most vibrant spaces.

Free art exhibitions in London: Summer 2024

There are always loads of free exhibitions on at commercial galleries in London. I use ArtRabbit to find out what’s on, and here are some that caught my eye.

Arpita Singh

Serpentine North, 13 March – 27 July 2025

Arpita Singh’s first solo exhibition outside India spans over 60 years of her career, showcasing vibrant watercolours, intricate ink drawings, and bold oil paintings. Blending figuration and surrealism, Singh’s work explores themes of memory, gender, and identity, offering a deeply personal reflection on life in contemporary India.

Giuseppe Penone: Thoughts in the Roots

Serpentine South Gallery, 3 April – 7 September 2025

Spanning over fifty years of work, this exhibition explores Giuseppe Penone’s deep connection to nature through sculpture, drawing, and installation. A key figure in Arte Povera, Penone uses organic materials like wood, bronze, and laurel to reflect on growth, memory, and the body’s imprint on the landscape. Highlights include a sensory laurel-leaf installation and tree-like sculptures set in Kensington Gardens.

---

Summer art exhibitions in London: July and August 2025

Kiefer/Van Gogh

Royal Academy of Arts, 28 June – 26 October 2025

This striking exhibition brings together works by Anselm Kiefer and Vincent van Gogh, exploring the unexpected ways Kiefer has engaged with Van Gogh’s intense, emotionally charged landscapes and letters. Through bold material experiments and layered symbolism, Kiefer reinterprets Van Gogh’s legacy in a contemporary key — drawing out questions of memory, trauma, and transformation.

Textiles: The Art of Mankind

The Fashion and Textile Museum, 28 March – 7 September 2025

This exhibition explores the profound role of textiles in shaping human history, from everyday items to ceremonial and artistic creations. Featuring rare pieces never seen before in the UK, highlights include a Panamanian textile of a mermaid symbolizing fertility, a Sardinian wall hanging, and a ceremonial bag shaped like a hand. The show also includes Connecting Threads, a collaboration by Lynn Setterington that commemorates people and communities through stitch.

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025

RA, 17 June – 17 August 2025

The world’s largest open-submission art show returns with over 1,000 works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and film. Curated by architect Farshid Moussavi RA, this year’s theme, “Dialogues,” explores how art fosters conversations across disciplines and cultures. As always, the exhibition features a dynamic mix of emerging voices and established names, with most works available for purchase. Proceeds support the RA Schools, the UK's longest-established art school offering a free postgraduate program.

Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur

The Wallace Collection, 28 March – 26 October 2025

The Wallace Collection’s largest contemporary exhibition to date sees Sir Grayson Perry respond to the museum’s historic treasures with his signature wit and sharp social commentary. Opening on Perry’s birthday, the show explores themes of craftsmanship, collecting, and the gendered nature of decoration through ceramics, tapestries, furniture, and collage.

Highlights include works by outsider artists Madge Gill and Aloïse Corbaz, offering a rich dialogue between Perry’s creations and the Collection’s timeless opulence.

Yoshitomo Nara

Hayward Gallery, 10 June – 31 August 2025

This wide-ranging retrospective offers an intimate view of Yoshitomo Nara’s world — from his instantly recognisable wide-eyed figures to rarely seen early drawings and personal ephemera. Spanning paintings, sculpture, and large-scale installations, the show captures the tension between innocence and defiance that runs through Nara’s work, alongside deeper themes of alienation, protest, and hope.

Leigh Bowery

Tate Modern, February 27 – August 31, 2025

This landmark exhibition celebrates the life and work of Leigh Bowery, one of the most flamboyant and influential figures in fashion, performance, and contemporary art. Known for his provocative performances and boundary-pushing designs, Bowery captivated audiences and redefined notions of identity and self-expression.

The show features an extensive collection of his costumes, photographs, and videos, alongside archival material that captures his vibrant creativity and cultural impact. From his bold club looks to his role as a muse for Lucian Freud, this exhibition illuminates Bowery's multifaceted contributions to art and performance.

Millet: Life on the Land

The National Gallery, 7 August – 19 October 2025

The first major UK exhibition of Jean-François Millet in nearly 50 years focuses on his quiet, radical depictions of rural life. Around 13 paintings and drawings — including the celebrated L’Angélus on loan from the Musée d’Orsay — reflect how Millet elevated everyday labour into something lyrical and deeply human. It’s a fresh look at an artist who helped shape Realism, Impressionism, and beyond.

Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road

The British Museum, 1 May – 7 September 2025

This exhibition celebrates the work of Utagawa Hiroshige, one of Japan’s most renowned and prolific ukiyo-e artists. Known for his stunning depictions of landscapes, Hiroshige's prints offer a glimpse into life during the Edo period (1603–1868).

The show features iconic works, including his famous Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, showcasing both tranquil rural scenes and vibrant cityscapes. In addition to his landscapes, the exhibition also explores his portrayals of fashionable figures and the social life of the time, offering a well-rounded view of Hiroshige's diverse body of work.

Ed Atkins

Tate Modern, 2 April – 25 August 2025

This is the first major UK exhibition of contemporary artist Ed Atkins, known for his thought-provoking videos and animations. For over a decade, Atkins has explored the shrinking divide between digital representation and lived experience. Using his own body and personal stories, his work critiques how technology has shaped our sense of self and images.

The exhibition brings together a range of Atkins’ works, from paintings and writings to embroideries and drawings, all alongside his iconic video installations. His creations, often darkly humorous and tinged with melancholy, contrast the weightless world of digital life with the tactile, physical one. The show focuses on themes of loss, intimacy, and love, offering a powerful reflection on the human experience.

Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons

Dulwich Picture Gallery, 10 June – 19 October 2025

Marking the first contemporary solo show in the Gallery's main exhibition space, Gated Canyons features newly commissioned large-scale and intimate works by Rachel Jones. Known for her vibrant use of colour and blending of abstract and figurative motifs, Jones draws inspiration from Pieter Boel’s Head of a Hound (c. 1660–5), creating a dialogue between historical and contemporary art. The exhibition invites viewers to engage with themes of identity and emotional expression through Jones's distinctive approach to mark-making.

The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House

Tate Modern, May 1 – October 19, 2025

Explore the world of Korean-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh in this major survey exhibition. Through large-scale installations, sculptures, videos, and drawings, Suh invites visitors to reflect on the concept of "home"—whether it is a place, a feeling, or an idea.

The exhibition delves into themes of identity, belonging, and the movement between spaces. Suh’s iconic fabric architecture allows you to wander through life-sized replicas of homes from Seoul, New York, and London, while his delicate works on paper and thought-provoking videos further explore the intersection of architecture, memory, and the body.

Discover new and site-specific works alongside pieces from his extensive three-decade career, all questioning our relationship to space, collectivity, and individuality.

Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting

National Portrait Gallery, 20 June – 7 September 2025

This landmark exhibition presents the largest UK museum survey of Jenny Saville’s work to date, tracing her evolution from the early 1990s to the present. Known for her monumental depictions of the human form, Saville challenges traditional notions of beauty and representation. The exhibition features 50 works, including charcoal drawings and large-scale oil paintings, highlighting her exploration of the body, identity, and the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. Curated in collaboration with the artist, the show offers a profound insight into Saville's enduring impact on contemporary figurative painting.

Cartier

V&A South Kensington, April 12 - November 16 2025

This major exhibition at the V&A takes you through Cartier’s legacy of art, design, and craftsmanship, showcasing over 350 objects, including exquisite jewels, rare gemstones, and iconic timepieces. From the brand’s earliest creations to its present-day masterpieces, the exhibition highlights Cartier’s evolution in shaping luxury and innovation in jewellery and watchmaking since the early 20th century.

This one is selling out far in advance - you might need to book a few months ahead.

---

Read more about art in London