What to see in London right now

To begin close to home, the Royal Academy – just around the corner from Dickinson – is currently showing Kiefer/Van Gogh (until 26 October), an exhibition staged in collaboration with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum about the lifelong influence of the Dutch Post-Impressionist on the German multimedia artist. It’s a new take on both, juxtaposing Kiefer, the blue-chip contemporary creative who has become one of the richest living artists, with Van Gogh, who enjoyed no commercial success in his lifetime. Van Gogh is likely to draw the visitors, however, as he always does; the RA is surely not forgetting last year’s National Gallery blockbuster Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, which became the most popular ticketed exhibition in its history, drawing 334,589 visitors during its run and prompting the second-ever overnight opening.

Also recently open (20 September – 18 January 2026) is Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, featuring works by the celebrated Black American painter and MacArthur Fellowship recipient. This exhibition, the largest held outside the United States, follows in the wake of numerous successful shows in America. Marshall is a hot ticket on the market as well, represented by David Zwirner (who staged solo exhibitions in 2014 and 2018) and Jack Shainman Gallery. The artist’s record at auction – a staggering $21.1 million – was set at Sotheby’s in 2018, and every one of the artist’s top 20 auction prices was set within the past eight years. Given ongoing institutional interests in broadening artistic representation in public collections, Marshall seems set to remain white-hot on the market for the foreseeable future.

Around the corner at the National Gallery, focus remains on historic art (despite the recent announcement that a new £375 million wing will be built to house art from after 1900) in exhibitions such as Millet: Life on the Land (until 19 October), organised in memory of the 150th anniversary of the artist’s death. Although Millet and his fellow Barbizon school painters were influential in their time, they’re not the most ‘fashionable’ of names on the current market, as the museum notes (remarking that his popularity was at its height in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries). Mention of his influence on better known artists including Van Gogh and Degas may represent an effort to draw in visitors who might otherwise overlook this small show.

Also currently on view is Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Muller’s Neo-Impressionists (until 8 February), a selection of works from the eponymous Dutch museum. Although the works themselves are striking examples of Post-Impressionism, it was undoubtedly also an opportunity to publicise the groundbreaking patronage of Helene Kröller Muller, one of the first great European women collectors and an early admirer of Van Gogh. Soon to open is Wright of Derby: From the Shadows (7 November – 10 May 2026), the first major exhibition dedicated to the Enlightenment painter’s candlelight pictures; these compositions, with their counterpoints of natural and artificial lighting, remain among his most popular and innovative. In 2017, one of these nocturnal images, An Academy by Lamplight, set the artist’s auction record, at nearly £7.3 million.

Travelling in the other direction, across St. James’s Park, the King’s Gallery is staging The Edwardians: Age of Elegance (until 23 November). Largely liberated from some of the same financial needs as public museums, the King’s Gallery has the freedom to stage exhibitions of curators’ choosing rather than pursuing visitor numbers. But although Edwardian pictures might not have the immediate draw of, say, the Impressionists, a recent Financial Times review – which remarks that the show ‘paints a more fabulous picture of Edwardian style than TV ever has’ – reminds us that historical dramas have always proven popular entertainment, from The Edwardians (1972-73) to more modern series including Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age, and even Bridgerton. Whether the art becomes as popular as the dramatised wealth and privilege of the era, along with its social scandals, remains to be seen.
 
The spectacular wealth of the Edwardian upper classes is also on view in South Kensington, at the V&A, as part of the sell-out exhibition Cartier (until 16 November). It follows in the wake of other blockbuster shows featuring the fashion houses Alexander McQueen, Dior, and Chanel, and the widespread interest in fashion has undoubtedly had a knock-on effect on paintings exhibitions: recent shows include Sargent and Fashion (Tate Britain, 22 February – 7 July 2024), and Marie Antoinette style has just opened at the V&A (until 22 March 2026), including objects and fashion as well as paintings. Over at the National Portrait Gallery, Cecil Beaton’s fashionable world (9 October – 11 January 2026) will also explore the relationships forged by art, society and fashion.

It is interesting to note the very modern slant of the upcoming shows at Tate Britain – apart, of course, from Turner & Constable (27 November – 12 April 2026), staged to coincide with the 250th anniversaries of their births, Turner in 1775 and Constable in 1776. These great rivals remain consistently popular in the market as well as drawing crowds to dedicated shows (with previous examples including Turner & Constable: Fire & Water (Tate Britain, 2018) and simultaneous exhibitions at Tate Britain and the V&A in 2014. The other 2025 Tate Britain shows feature far more modern art, however, with a particularly Surrealist bent: Edward Burra (until 19 October), Lee Miller (2 October – 15 February; note, also, the 2023 movie of her life starring Kate Winslet in the title role) and Ithell Colquhoun (until 19 October), the first major exhibition of this member of the British Surrealist group, which simultaneously ticks the ‘Surrealist’ and ‘woman artist’ boxes. We can expect to see the auction houses seek out her work and collectors to take note, as it is decidedly undervalued (auction record £258,600 and no other 6-figure prices) in comparison to that of contemporary women Surrealists like Frida Kahlo (auction record $34.9m) and Leonora Carrington ($28.5m).