Art exhibitions to see in London in January 2023

Discover our guide to the best exhibitions to visit in London this January. From an immersive experience exploring the world of Spanish artist, Salvador Dalí, to a major exhibition at the National Gallery focussed on the works of Lucian Freud spanning more than seven decades. Start the new year with a great exhibition!

Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: States of Oneness

When: until 29 January 2023

Where: Serpentine South Gallery 

Price: Free

Image: Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, States of Oneness © Kamala Ibrahim Ishag 2022. Photo: George Darrell, Courtesy Serpentine

#FLODown: Serpentine presents an exhibition by Sudanese artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishag. With a career spanning over sixty years, Ishag is a defining figure of modern and contemporary art. Her widely recognised paintings, where often human and plant forms intertwine, use a distinctive palette rooted in the colours of the sun, sand and sky and contemplate the cyclical flow of life and the intangible aspects of women’s lives in Sudan. Drawing on a diverse range of contexts, Ishag’s work embraces different landscapes, histories and subjects to contemplate themes of spirituality, kinship and human relationships with the natural world. Location: Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, London, W2 3XA.

Lucian Freud: New Perspectives

When: until 22 January 2023

Where: National Gallery 

Price: From £24 

Image: Lucian Freud, 'Bella and Esther', 1988. Private collection © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2022/ Bridgeman Images

#FLODown: The National Gallery brings together paintings by Lucian Freud spanning more than seven decades. The exhibition will chart how Freud’s painting changed during 70 years of practice – from his early and intimate works to his well-known, large-scale canvasses and his monumental naked portraits. Widely considered to be one of Britain's finest figurative painters, this exhibition will bring to light new perspectives on a lifetime’s work, looking beyond Freud's fame and infamy to focus on the artist's uncompromising commitment to painting in the 20th century. Location: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN.

Forrest Bess: Out of the Blue 

When: until 15 January 2023 

Where: Camden Art Centre 

Price: Free

Image: Image credit: Forrest Bess, Untitled (Rainbow with Arc), n.d. Oil on canvas, 27.4 x 32.9 cm. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Photo: Robert Glowacki. Courtesy Modern Art, London.

#FLODown:  Camden Art Centre presents the first major institutional exhibition in the UK of the work of Forrest Bess. Bess was an American artist, visionary and fisherman who lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The exhibition draws together rarely-seen paintings from public and private collections across the world, presenting more than 40 works, many of which were hand-framed by the artist in driftwood. It will focus on Bess’s visionary paintings from the late 1940s through to the early 1970s, with a particular emphasis on the lexicon of abstract forms and symbols that speak to his unique understanding of the universe: physically, spiritually and psychologically. Throughout his work, Bess explored questions of gender and sexuality that were driven by his personal feelings and lived experience, as well as an unshakeable belief in their wider significance to humanity. Location: Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road, London, NW3 6DG.

London Art Fair

When: 18 – 22 January 2023

Where: Business Design Centre

Price: from £19.50.Concessions available

Image: London Art Fair, Albert Irvin OBE 'Presence III' 2012 acrylic on canvas 61 x61 cm. Courtesy of Advanced Graphics London LAF

#FLODown: London Art Fair returns with an exceptional collection of modern and contemporary art. This year will see the participation of over 100 galleries from around the world, including Iceland, Belgium, America and Sweden. Featuring works by some of the world’s most renowned artists, including Paula Rego, Tracey Emin, Roy Lichtenstein, Bridget Riley, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Fair will offer both seasoned and aspiring collectors a diverse presentation of modern and contemporary art, alongside curated displays, and an inspiring programme of talks, panel discussions and artist insights.  Location: Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 0QH.

Ode to the Ancestors: Kenyan Archaeology

When: until December 2023

 Where: Horniman Museum & Gardens

Price: Free

Image: Kamoya Kimeu and John Onyango, two prominent Kenyan archaeologists, excavating a Neolithic burial site, 1974-75. © National Museums of Kenya.

#FLODown: Ode to the Ancestors commemorates and celebrates the African Kenyan archaeologists whose names are absent from archaeological archives. Colonial-era archaeological excavations in Kenya drew on the expertise and skills of African Kenyan archaeologists. However, despite contributing knowledge to the understanding of Kenyan pasts, their names are absent. The exhibition features historic images and stories of African archaeologists are presented alongside new works by a group of young people with African and Caribbean heritage in the UK. Their exhibits express what reclaiming African history means to them. Location: Horniman Museum & Gardens, 100 London Road, Forest Hill London SE23 3PQ.

Veronica Ryan 

When: until 21 January 2023

Where: Alison Jacques Gallery 

Price: Free

Image: Multiple Entry Points, 2022, Courtesy: © Veronica Ryan

#FLODown: Alison Jacques present a solo exhibition by Veronica Ryan, the artist’s first show at the gallery. The exhibition follows Ryan’s participation in the 2022 Whitney Biennial, in New York, and being awarded the 2022 Turner Prize, and large bronze and marble outdoor works Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae), which were unveiled in Hackney as the nation’s first permanent sculpture to celebrate the Windrush generation. Elemental processes such as tying, binding, staining and stacking are common throughout Ryan’s work, deploying these techniques with intense sensitivity as a kind of reckoning or discovery. Location: Alison Jacques, 16–18 Berners Street, W1T 3LN.

The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion

When: until 22 January 2023

Where: Saatchi Gallery 

Price: £10/Concessions available.

Image: Dana Scruggs, Fire on the Beach, 2019, from The New Black Vanguard (Aperture, 2019). © Dana Scruggs

#FLODown: Curated by American writer and critic Antwaun Sargent The New Black Vanguard explores a new aesthetic of Black portraiture while examining the cross-pollination between art, fashion and culture in the making of images. Featuring 15 international Black photographers, the exhibition is a celebration of Black creativity both in front of and behind the camera. Expect to find works by Black stylists, models, make-up artists and creative directors who are bringing a radically new set of references and experiences to image-making. Location: Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, London SW3 4RY.

Dalí Cybernetics: The Immersive Experience

When: throughout 2023 (end date TBC)

Where: The Boiler House

Price: from £19.90 for adults (£10.90 for children)

Image: Dalí Cybernetics : The Immersive Experience

#FLODown: A 360º digital art exhibition that invites you to step into the universe of the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí.The immersive exhibition will allow you to discover how Dalí's work was born from an open, ambitious, provocative, but also scientific thought. You will see Dalí’s and his work from an entirely new perspective, thanks to large-format projections, interactive installations, holograms, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. Location:  The Boiler House, 152 Brick Ln, London E1 6RU. 

Click here to discover more exhibitions to look out for in London in 2023.