What art exhibitions are you looking forward to in 2026

[MmeWorthington]

I currently have my eye on
Tracey Emin
Whistler
Frida Kahlo
Vanessa Bell
Julio le Parc (All Tate in London)

Ai Weiwei - Manchester

Bridget Riley - Margate (maybe - saw the big BR exhibition at the Haywood a few years ago - will it be different works?)

Hockney - Serpentine - maybe (have seen the Normandy work at the National Gallery and in Saltaire - will it be different?)

Seeing Hockney at the Serpentine this week, so very excited!
Booked for the French Riviera show at the RA, and usually also go,to the Summmer Exhibition.
Also hoping for Van Eyck at the National Gallery in the autumn.
Also - & hope it isn't too frivolous for this thread! - I'm going to the show of QEII's fashion, at the King's Gallery.

I do wish I lived nearer to London & could visit more often.

I'm planning to visit the Tracy Emin exhibition and would like to see the Van Eyck too.

@Miranda65 the QEII fashion exhibition will be interesting, I think. When I go to fashion exhibitions though I always want to feel the fabrics and have a close look at how the seams and button holes etc are finished off, as well as just look at the costumes.

@TemporarilyCantDoMyself - Two Temple Place is an amazing building and worth visiting just for itself. It's not open year round so thanks for the heads-up about the exhibition.

Going to see Euan Uglow in Milton Keynes in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait!!

@Plexie I'm really looking forward to seeing both the place itself and the exhibition. I love these little hidden away arts venues in London so I'm excited to find one that's new to me! 😍

Seurat
Turner & Constable
Hockney at the Serpentine Gallery
French Riviera at the RA

Just reviving the thread to post this Guardian review of the Hurvin Anderson at Tate Britain which sounds amazing. I'm off to London next Wednesday and I've got four complete days Thursday to Sunday and I will see how much I can pack in! This is at the top of the (too long 😂) list...
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/mar/24/hurvin-anderson-haunted-hazy-beautiful-show-stumbling-through-memories

I went to the Don McCullin exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, Somerset last week which was really good (and free)!

Cardiff has a big collection of GJs, though…

Thanks for reminding me about this one. Literally only one day I can see it before it closes, so it's now on my calendar!

I’m going to the Gwen John in Cardiff next month.

The exhibition at 2 Temple Place is excellent and the building itself is worth a visit.

I saw Tracy Emin on Thursday and loved it …. It was really busy though so I wonder if it’s worth waiting a while. Also popped into Theatre Picasso because I know that’s closing and I have membership. Not sure I would have paid to see it. Saw Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen at the Hayward a couple of weeks ago but was a little surprised at the size so I agree you could add another exhibition on top. Next for me is the Schiaparelli at the V&A in April.

Major Vivienne Westwood is coming to the Bowes Museum if you’re up North. Fashion not Art but promises to be good!

Gwen John at Cardiff is not quite the same as the Chichester one. There is obviously a lot of overlap. Cardiff has a big collection of her preparatory drawings as well.

I think if you went to Chichester, it's not necessarily worth going to Cardiff as well, unless you're a big fan of her work. Although it us worth going to Cardiff anyway.

I am going down to Plymouth for Beryl Cook in a couple of weeks. And I want to see William Nicholson at Pallant House, and the Ashmolean, and...

I go through all the galleries websites every few months and then put a list up on my wall of all the ones I am interested in, some as definite, some as "if I'm in the area". I have been known to travel quite a way for an interesting exhibition.

Thanks @EBearhug that's helpful about the Gwen John. Like you I try and see lots of things all over the place! Might not bother with Gwen John again.
Do you ever go to Russell-Cotes in Bournemouth? The exhibitions are not big but often quite unusual and I love the place itself and there are some painting gems in the permanent collection.
https://russellcotes.com/

Ohh and the Internet, watching my activities closely, has just chucked this my way...😂
https://swheritage.org.uk/events/a-life-in-art-roger-fry/

I do go to the Russell-Cotes - I lived in Bournemouth for some years and pop down for a swim after work when water temperature/weather/light allows. I was there quite recently for the war art exhibition.

@TemporarilyCantDoMyself the Roger Fry exhibition is very close to me, so thanks for that. I hope it is better than the William Scott exhibition, which was exceptionally scant at just 3 paintings.

I lucked out and visited Russell-Cotes on one of the free entry days. It was a real gem but very busy.

Just to mention the Gwen John exhibition will be in Edinburgh from August in case anyone is interested.

"Next for me is the Schiaparelli at the V&A in April."

I really want to see this.

Who has been to Tracey Emin? What did you think?

I haven't but I will be going sometime in the next three days (membership so I can get in whenever).
Yesterday though I went to Hurvin Anderson at Tate Britain, and Rose Wylie followed by Michaelina Wautier both Royal Academy.

Wautier; gorgeous and of great historical significance, she's a little known artist from the 1600s when obviously it was a much tougher gig to be a woman artist. Amazing portraiture with a very vibrant sensibility.

Hurvin Anderson: anyone who loves contemporary painting should try and see this. I absolutely loved it. Political and personal but above all with a unique and beautiful language and vision.

Rose W: fuck me overhyped shit. I was in there about 5 minutes and I'm just glad I have a membership because if I'd forked out the £23 or whatever I'd have been furious. I fact, I am furious: this is the first RA show in its history to focus on a single woman artist. And it's shit. I'd actually love someone to argue with me because I don't get it. And I love modern art. Help, anyone?

Evidence: photos I took, 10 at Wautier, 37 at Hurvin Anderson, 0 at Rose Wylie.
I wanted to like her, I really really did. But I just couldn't. I even felt like talking to the serene and discreet attendants, I was dying to say to one of them, what do you think? Is it me or is it shit? 🫢
Would anyone like to see some Hurvin Anderson pics? 🤩

I loved it. I especially liked the most recent paintings and her embroidered blankets ( the black thread on the white blankets ). I’d love to know how she does that from a technical point of view. ( I assumed she painted and it was scanned by a huge computer but what the hell do I know ?) I really like artist like Francis Bacon and Cy Twombly if that helps where my taste is at.

Yes, I loved TE too.

It was a big and intense exhibition. Loved her big canvasses and the black embroideries.

The one called ‘you made me feel like nothing’ re-ignited my irritation (laced with fury) at the curators of the Theatre Picasso exhibition who warbled earnestly about Picasso’s sketches of spread legs in a sort of retro jolly bordello setting as bravely addressing taboo as if nudity in art in the 1960s was remotely taboo. It was fantasy titillation.

And then we had TE. Same view, and in the violence of the same stark colour contrast she got the disgust of sexual assault, the vulnerability, and her own unstoppable power.

I love her wit, her commitment to a central idea for a piece uncompromising implementation. Also the deep disturbing images with the hope in the neon.

Loved it.