Known for her vigorous brushwork, vivid colour and dynamic compositions, Cecily Brown presents paintings inspired by Serpentine’s unique location in Kensington Gardens, a site of personal significance to the artist.

Themes of nature and park life have long shaped Brown’s formal explorations. She experiments with scale, colour and recurring motifs, such as amorous couples, woodland scenes, and uncanny nature walks.

New works made specifically for the exhibition are shown alongside a selection of key paintings dating back to 2001, in addition to recent monotypes and drawings. The exhibition gestures to Brown’s early memories of the English landscape, her fascination with children’s book illustrations, and the darker undercurrents of cautionary tales.

Picture Making marks Brown’s first major solo presentation of paintings in a UK institution since her 2005 exhibition at Modern Art Oxford and represents a homecoming for the British artist who has worked in New York for the past thirty years.

Free

Monday 12-6pm, Tuesday-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday-Sunday 10am-7pm

A truly global figure, Whistler re-wrote the rules of what it meant to be an artist. He pioneered new and innovative techniques, creating astonishingly beautiful, ethereal visions of modern life that would earn him a place as one of the most influential artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This retrospective – the first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years – brings together the artist’s world-famous paintings alongside rarely, or never seen, works. It includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs, from as early as his teens in St. Petersburg to the enigmatic late self-portraits.

The exhibition presents both a boldly experimental artist and cosmopolitan celebrity, disrupting the conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of truth, beauty, and progress.

£24

Monday to Sunday 10.00–18.00

In celebration of the Hollywood star’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait will explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Bringing together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside over 20 era-defining photographers, including Cecil Beaton, Philippe Halsman, Bernard of Hollywood, André de Dienes, Eve Arnold, Inge Morath, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, Richard Avedon and George Barris, the exhibition will foreground Monroe’s collaborative approach to image making and her creative agency.

The exhibition will also include personal belongings such as scripts and clothes to enrich understanding of the woman behind the image.

From the earliest ‘cheesecake’ pin-ups made when she was a young model named Norma-Jeane, to the most poignant final photographs taken on the beach in Santa Monica in 1962, Marilyn Monroe was one of the most photographed people in the world. A defining presence in popular culture, she captivated audiences with performances in much loved films such as Some Like it Hot.

In the 1950s and 60s, Marilyn Monroe’s popularity secured her starring roles in the work of artists including Richard Hamilton, Pauline Boty and Andy Warhol, whose ‘Marilyn’ portraits are among the most highly prized works of art in the world. She continues to fascinate artists, drawn to her iconic presence and fascinating life.

£25–27 / £27.50–30 with donation

Open daily: 10.30 – 18.00
Friday & Saturday: 10.30 – 21.00

Explore the impact of Pan-Africanism on artistic and cultural production from the 1920s to the present, through over 300 works – from paintings and installations to posters, journals, and film.

The term Pan-Africanism refers to a broad spectrum of political and philosophical movements advocating anti-colonial resistance and transnational solidarity amongst peoples of African descent. While it has long been recognised as a galvanising force in 20th-century global history, Project a Black Planet is the first major exhibition to consider both its influence on visual art and culture, and the critical role of artists in shaping Pan-African visions.

The exhibition presents work produced across Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe, from artists including Chris Ofili, Marlene Dumas and Claudette Johnson. The symbolic site of Panafrica is presented not as a fixed territory but as a conceptual terrain where rupture, dissent, and collective imagination converge in the pursuit of emancipatory futures.

Participating artists include:

El Anatsui, Fatma Arargi, Liz Johnson Artur, Kader Attia, Farid Belkahia, Christopher Cozier, Marlene Dumas, Inji Efflatoun, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Benedict Enwonwu, Dumile Feni, Samuel Fosso, Coco Fusco, Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar, Sonia Gomes, David Hammons, Lubaina Himid, Nicholas Hlobo, Claudette Johnson, William Kentridge, Wifredo Lam, Simone Leigh, Bertina Lopes, Ernest Mancoba, Sabelo Mlangeni, Ronald Moody, Azikiwe Mohammed, Kawira Mwirichia, Abdias do Nascimento, Iba N’Diaye, Grace Ndiritu, Malangatana Ngwenya, Everlyn Nicodemus, Magdalene Odundo, Chris Ofili, Colette Omogbai, Ingrid Pollard, Samir Rafi, Ibrahima Sanlé Sory, Gerard Sekoto, Cauleen Smith, Tavares Strachan, Papa Ibra Tall, The Otolith Group and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

£19

Tue–Wed 10am–6pm (last entry 5pm)

Thu–Fri 10am–8pm (last entry 7pm)

Sat–Sun 10am–6pm (last entry 5pm)

The Courtauld Gallery will present the first exhibition devoted to Barbara Hepworth’s lifelong fascination with colour, shedding light on an unexpected and unexplored aspect of the work of one of the most celebrated British artists of the 20th century.

Barbara Hepworth (1903 – 1975) is best known for her abstract sculptures inspired by nature and the rugged seaside landscapes of Cornwall where she lived and worked from 1939. Throughout her life she emphasised the primacy of direct carving and adhered to the ethos of ‘truth to materials’. Discussing her innovative use of colour with her son-in-law, the art historian Sir Alan Bowness, she said: “In a way my colour has been accepted but never understood.”

Bringing together some 20 sculptures and 30 drawings and paintings, The Joseph Hage Aaronson & Bremen Exhibition: Hepworth in Colour will be the first exhibition to focus on this important but often overlooked aspect of her work. Hepworth’s early interest in colour dates to the mid-1930s, when she and her future husband, Ben Nicholson, formed part of the European avant-garde. When in 1939, days before the outbreak of the Second World War, she left London for Cornwall with her three young children, Hepworth took with her a single sculpture – her first study for a sculpture with colour. Over the coming years, the landscape of Cornwall inspired her to develop this initial experiment, taking her work in new directions and establishing a lifelong fascination with colour.

Tickets from £18

Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (last entry 17:15).

One of the most influential artists of our time, Anish Kapoor returns to the Hayward Gallery, where he staged his first major UK survey almost 30 years ago.

Kapoor’s exhibition fills the entire gallery building with a series of immersive works, many of which press against the gallery walls and floors or descend from the ceiling to create an uncanny sensation of awe and wonder.

The exhibition features works from many of Kapoor’s most iconic series: flawless steel mirror sculptures that warp, distort and disorient; mysterious objects coated in Vantablack – the blackest known substance in the world – that mystify us with their extraordinary light-absorbing properties; and seemingly depthless voids opening within the gallery, drawing us in with a thrilling sense of vertigo.

The exhibition also introduces dramatic recent works: visceral paintings and sculptures that confront us with the fragility of human existence.

In addition, the artist presents several new works that appear to turn the world inside out and upside down, including a pair of monumental installations in the artist’s signature red.

Part of Hayward Gallery’s 75th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff, marking his final show as Director of the Hayward Gallery after 20 years in the role.

Over his decades-long career, Kapoor has become known for ambitious, large-scale works such as the breathtaking Sky Mirror and Chicago’s Cloud Gate (known as The Bean).

£22

Tue – Fri, 10am – 6pm
Sat, 10am – 8pm
Sun, 10am – 6pm

Frida: The Making of an Icon will showcase over 30 of Kahlo’s most iconic works that introduce her ‘many selves’ – the dedicated wife, the intellectual, the modern artist, and the political activist. Alongside treasured garments, jewellery, photographs and memorabilia, there are over 200 works by her contemporaries and the artists she inspired from later generations, celebrating her lasting impact on those who continue to reimagine and reclaim her remarkable story.

The show will culminate by exploring ‘Fridamania’. Kahlo’s transformation into a global brand will feature more than 200 commercial objects that encompass her art, image, style and persona.

Encounter a journey entirely unique to this fearless, revolutionary artist, one that offers a fascinating insight into the transformative power of Frida’s life and work, the intriguing notion of fandom and the diversity of communities who claim her as their own.

£25

Sunday to Thursday 10.00–18.00

Friday to Saturday 10.00–21.00