Art exhibitions to watch out for in London in 2025
Announcements are already rolling in for London’s 2025 art exhibitions, and the line-up is shaping up splendidly. Highlights include the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to José María Velasco, Mexico’s acclaimed 19th-century painter, and the Royal Academy’s Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism, featuring over 130 works by ten prominent Brazilian artists. The newly opened V&A East Museum will debut The Music Is Black: A British Story, while next year will also bring two major Van Gogh exhibitions—one at the National Gallery and another at the Royal Academy of Arts, where Anselm Kiefer’s work will be shown in dialogue with Van Gogh’s. Here are some of the art exhibitions announced for London in 2025 so far. More details will be added as further announcements are made.
José María Velasco: A View of Mexico
José María Velasco. Pirámides del sol y de la luna, 1878. Oil on canvas, 18.5 x 26.3 cm. Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico.© Oliver Santana.
#FLODown: The National Gallery will host the UK’s first exhibition on José María Velasco, Mexico’s renowned 19th-century painter. José María Velasco: A View of Mexico celebrates the 200th anniversary of UK-Mexico diplomatic relations and highlights Velasco’s detailed depictions of Mexico’s landscapes and industrialisation. The exhibition will connect his work with pieces from the Gallery’s collection, such as Édouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian, and address themes of colonialism and ecological change. It will also feature a catalogue with new research on Velasco, reflecting the National Gallery’s ongoing effort to introduce British audiences to non-European art.
Date: 29 March – 17 August 2025. Location: Sunley Room, National Gallery. Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Price: TBC. nationalgallery.org.uk.
Noah Davis
Noah Davis at work, Los Angeles, 2009, Photo by Patrick O'Brien-Smith.
#FLODown: In February 2025, Barbican Art Gallery will present the largest institutional survey of late American artist Noah Davis to date. This comprehensive exhibition will feature over 50 works from Davis' career, including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Davis, based in Los Angeles, was known for his figurative paintings exploring Black life and his role as a curator and community-builder with The Underground Museum. The retrospective will span from his first exhibition in 2007 to his death in 2015, showcasing his innovative approach to art and his commitment to representing diverse experiences. The exhibition, organised chronologically, will also tour to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles from June to August 2025.
Date: 6 February – 11 May 2025. Location: Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS.barbican.org.uk.
Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism
Tarsila do Amaral, Landscape with Bridge, 1931. Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 46 cm. Private collection. Courtesy of Almeida & Dale Galeria de Arte – Photo: Sergio Guerini. © Tarsila do Amaral S/A.
#FLODown: Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism at the Royal Academy will feature over 130 works from the 1910s to the 1970s by ten key Brazilian artists. This exhibition will showcase the diversity of Brazilian art with pieces from rarely seen private and public collections, many never exhibited in the UK. Highlights will include works by Modernism pioneer Anita Malfatti and other significant artists like Geraldo de Barros and da Motta e Silva. Each artist will have at least ten works displayed, covering 70 years of Brazilian art from figuration to abstraction.
Date: 28 January - 21 April 2025. Location: Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £23.50-£25.50. Book now.
Christina Kimeze
© Christina Kimeze. Photo © White Cube (Thomas Lannes).
#FLODown: London-based painter Christina Kimeze's first solo show in London will open at the South London Gallery (SLG) in January 2025. Her paintings often feature solitary female figures in natural landscapes or abstract interiors, focusing on isolated architectural elements. Inspired by her friends, family, and herself, these figures explore the feeling of existing between two emotional spaces and a sense of "otherness." Drawing from her memories of Uganda and literary influences from Black, feminist 20th-century writers, Kimeze's work captures themes of remembering and identity.
Date: 31 January– 11 May 2025. Location: South London Gallery, 65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UH. Price: Free. southlondongallery.org.
Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land
Installation view of Citra Sasmita, Timur Merah Project XII: Rivers With No End, as part of After Rain, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, 2024 Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation Photo: Marco Cappelletti.
#FLODown: In January 2025, Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita will debut her first UK solo exhibition at The Curve, transforming the 90-metre-long gallery into a symbolic, multi-sensory journey exploring ancestral memory, ritual, and migration. Known for her work in painting, sculptural installation, embroidery, and scent, Sasmita reclaims the traditional Indonesian Kamasan painting technique to challenge gender hierarchies and confront Balinese culture's colonial past.
Date: 30 January – 20 April 2025. Location: The Curve, Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: Free. barbican.org.uk.
Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo, The Cheerful Castle, c. 1847. Pen, brush, pencil, stencil, ink and cardboard on paper, 15.8 x 22.2 cm. Maisons de Victor Hugo, Paris / Guernsey. Photo: CCØ Paris Musées / Maison de Victor Hugo.
#FLODown: Victor Hugo, a prominent 19th-century French figure known for his novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was also a poet, politician, and artist. His drawings, which include imaginary castles, monsters, and seascapes, reflect his creative spirit and influenced Romantic, Symbolist, and Surrealist artists. In March 2025, the Royal Academy of Arts will showcase a major exhibition of Hugo’s rarely seen works on paper, last displayed in the UK over 50 years ago. The exhibit will explore his evolution as a draughtsman, from early caricatures to experimental abstractions, and is organised in collaboration with Paris Musées and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Date: 21 March - 29 June 2025. Location: The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £17. Book now.
The Music Is Black: A British Story
Aces Club, Count Shelly Sound System, Hackney, © Dennis Morris.
#FLODown: In 2025, the V&A East Museum will host The Music Is Black: A British Story, an immersive exhibition celebrating 125 years of Black British music and its global influence. The exhibition will cover genres from Jazz and Reggae to Grime and beyond, featuring pioneers like Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and contemporary artists such as Little Simz and Jorja Smith. It will showcase significant recordings, instruments, and personal artefacts, supported by the BBC Archive. The exhibition will also inspire a season of related programming across East Bank in collaboration with the BBC, Sadler's Wells East, UAL’s London College of Fashion, and UCL East.
Date: Opening in 2025. Location: V&A East Museum, East Bank, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Price: TBC. vam.ac.uk.
Kiefer/ Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (after Millet), 1890. Oil on canvas, 72.1 cm x 92 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
#FLODown: Vincent van Gogh has had a lasting influence on Anselm Kiefer, from his early years to the present. The exhibition Kiefer/Van Gogh will display works by both artists together for the first time, featuring Van Gogh's paintings and drawings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam alongside Kiefer's Van Gogh-inspired works, including new, previously unseen pieces. Kiefer first encountered Van Gogh's work at age 17 during a travel grant journey through the Netherlands, Belgium, Paris, and Arles. Over his 60-year career, Van Gogh's Post-Impressionism has shaped Kiefer's monumental paintings and sculptures, which draw on history, mythology, literature, philosophy, and science.
Date: 28 June – 26 October 2025. Location: The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries,Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. royalacademy.org.uk.
Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300‒1350
Duccio Maestà - Panels, 1307/8-11 - The Annunciation © The National Gallery, London.
#FLODown: The National Gallery is set to host a milestone exhibition in spring 2025, marking its 200th anniversary with a rare reunion of 14th-century Italian paintings. Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300‒1350 will feature approximately a hundred works, showcasing the pivotal role of Sienese artists in Europe's artistic landscape. Highlights include Duccio di Buoninsegna's Maestà panels and Simone Martini's Orsini Polyptych, alongside works by Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. This comprehensive exhibition, curated by experts including Dr. Laura Llewellyn and Dr. Caroline Campbell, will showcase the radical experimentation and international influence of Sienese art, offering a unique journey through history and culture.
Date: 8 March ‒ 22 June 2025. Location: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Price: TBC.Website: nationalgallery.org.uk.
Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall, School of Beauty, School of Culture, 2012. Acrylic and glitter on unstretched canvas, 274.3 x 401.3 cm. Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. © Kerry James Marshall. Photo: Sean Pathasema. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
#FLODown: In September 2025, the Royal Academy of Arts will celebrate American artist Kerry James Marshall Hon RA's 70th birthday with a major solo exhibition. This will be his first UK institutional presentation in nearly 20 years, featuring around 70 works, including new paintings and his evolving sculpture, ‘Wake.’ Marshall's art, known for its large-scale figurative paintings and murals, enhances the presence of Black figures and draws on Western art traditions, personal memories, contemporary culture, and science fiction to comment on the past, celebrate everyday life, and envision optimistic futures.
Date: 20 September 2025 – 18 January 2026. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £23.50 - £25.50. Book now.
A Story of South Asain Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle
Mrinalini Mukherjee and works in progress at her garage studio, 1985. Mrinalini Mukherjee Archive. Courtesy of Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation and Asia Art Archive. Photo: Ranjit Singh.
#FLODown: This exhibition will showcase South Asian artists connected to Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee, featuring works by her peers, teachers, and her own 40-year career. Artists include her parents, Benode Behari and Leela Mukherjee, modernist pioneers like KG Subramanyan, and prominent figures such as Nilima Sheikh and Jagdish Swaminathan. Mukherjee’s intricate art merges abstraction with the human form, influenced by nature, South Asian traditions, and international modernist design. Organised by the Royal Academy of Arts and The Hepworth Wakefield, a major retrospective of Mukherjee will also be held at The Hepworth Wakefield in 2026.
Date: 24 October 2025 - 25 January 2026. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £17. Book now.
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
Mickalene Thomas, 2023. Photo by Malike Sidibe.
#FLODown: In 2025, Mickalene Thomas’s All About Love exhibition will tour major institutions in the US and UK. The tour starts at The Broad in Los Angeles, moves to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and concludes at the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre. Thomas’s art redefines beauty, sexuality, and identity, drawing inspiration from 19th-century painting, pop culture, and Black feminist theory. Her work challenges portraiture conventions and explores Black and female identity within art history, embodying themes of love, empowerment, and joy.
Date: 10 February - 5 May 2025. Location: Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. southbankcentre.co.uk.
RA Summer Exhibition 2025
Royal Acadmy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2024. Photo by MTotoe.
#FLODown: The Royal Academy's annual Summer Exhibition, the world's largest open submission contemporary art show, will return in 2025, marking its 257th year. Showcasing around 1,200 works from both emerging and established artists across various media—including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture, and film—the exhibition has been held annually since 1769. Most artworks will be for sale, supporting the artists, RA Schools' postgraduate students, and the Royal Academy's work. More details will follow on who will be coordinating the 2025 show.
Date: 17 June – 17 August 2025. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: TBC. royalacademy.org.uk.