The London Summer Art Season

Summer Exhibition - Royal Academy of Arts
16th June – 23rd August 2026

A staple in any art-focused calendar, the annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts reflects all that is new and exciting in both British and international art. Comprising drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture and even digital artforms like film and photography, artworks are submitted by members of the public and aspiring or emerging artists as well as household names and even the odd celebrity. Such variety makes for an engaging visit, no matter the year.

In many ways, the Summer Exhibition is not just about the artworks on display but also about the hub the Royal Academy becomes for creativity, the sharing of ideas and passions. What’s more, it is just a stone’s throw from several independent galleries, including Dickinson, each hosting unique exhibitions of their own.

Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture - Sir John Soane's Museum
Until 28th June 2026

Famed for having designed some of the UK’s most loved country houses, including Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, Sir John Vanbrugh is widely known as ‘the original architect’. This exhibition brings together drawings from the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Sir John Soane’s Museum collection, some of which have never been exhibited before. Many of the items on display related to Vanbrugh’s major projects, including Castle Howard, but also include plans for large housing schemes that were, sadly, never realised.

Along with his contemporaries, Nicholas Hawksmoor and Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh holds an important position in the English architectural canon. In addition to displays of his own work, this exhibition also explores Vanbrugh’s influence upon contemporary architects; in a world where housing remains a key issue, it seems an apt topic of discussion for today.

David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting - Serpentine North Gallery
Until 23rd August 2026

David Hockney has long been a lover of new mediums, most famously using an iPad in recent years to create vast landscapes. This summer the Serpentive North Gallery hosts a presentation, designed specifically for the space, which brings Hockney’s monumental panoramic frieze A Year in Normandie to London for the very first time. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, this celebrated piece illustrates the changing seasons as seen from the artist’s former studio in Northern France.

Alongside this, a selection of new, more intimate paintings reminds us of Hockney’s knack for finding beauty in simplicity and everyday life. This playful, highly colourful exhibition – which begins, before one has even entered the gallery, with a depiction of a treehouse – will leave you looking at the natural world with fresh eyes.

Until 23rd August 2026

This monograph exhibition, the first major show to explore the work of this particular artist, offers a glimpse into the artistic production of Baroque Seville through the paintings of Francisco de Zurbarán. A contemporary of the more widely celebrated painters Murillo and Velázquez, Zurbarán is perhaps best known for his detailed still life paintings and religious portraiture. Characterised by strong lighting and deep shadows, his works are vivid and emotionally charged, particularly his portraits of saints. His attention to detail, especially in the treatment of fabrics – not just their decoration but also their surface texture and movement – (as seen is his portrait of Saint Casilda) serves as a reminder of his exposure to rich materials through his father’s work as a textile merchant.

Other highlights include highly naturalistic still lifes, which are displayed in a room alongside works by Zurbarán’s son, Juan, who continued the family’s artistic legacy in Seville after his father’s death in 1664. The final room is centred around a poignant depiction of Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God; this painting is itself a still life of sorts and, as an example of Zurbarán’s painterly skill and realism, is a fitting close to this dramatic exhibition.

Until 31st August 2026

Tracing forty years of Emin’s work, Tracy Emin: A Second Life brings together a vast number of the artist’s works across a variety of media (painting, video, textiles, sculpture and installation to name a few) and includes some of her most recognisable, career-defining works as well as others that have never been seen before. With a focus upon the body as a vehicle for expression, Emin’s work is, as ever, unapologetically personal and explores themes of passion, pain and healing.

Curated by Maria Balshaw, the exhibition follows a narrative of key events from the artist’s life; from the death of her mother in 2016 to her diagnosis and recovery from cancer in 2020, these too relate to the human body. For Emin, this major retrospective is the next in this series of life events: “I think this exhibition will be landmark for me. A moment in my life where I look back and look forward. A true celebration of life”.

Until 27th September 2026

Over at Tate Britain, a retrospective of the American artist James McNeill Whistler brings together more than 150 works, including paintings, drawings and prints. The exhibition delves into his experimental artistic approach and examines his role as disruptor of Victorian society. This begins with a room inspired by the artist’s studio in which Whistler’s own collection of ceramics, prints and furniture, as well as his personal painting materials, are displayed.

Having been born in America, studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, and then spent his twenties crossing between London and Paris, Whistler was a truly international artist, and his work charts his extensive travel. Included in the exhibition are landscapes, both of parts of France and England, as well as depictions of Italy, Chile and North Africa, and self-portraits from throughout the artist’s life, which show him in different settings.

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art - Victoria & Albert Museum
Until 8th November 2026

This summer, the Victoria & Albert Museum plays host to the UK’s first exhibition focusing upon the design work of Elsa Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli was famously close friends with several members of the Surrealist circle and even collaborated upon designs with Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and Leonor Fini. From sketches and photographs to jewellery and one-of-a-kind clothing, this exhibition considers the crossover between traditional art practices and fashion design. For Schiaparelli herself, dress designing was ‘not a profession but an art’ and her creations were consequently somewhat outlandish and playful in their nature.

After a hiatus (the original fashion house closed in 1954), the Schiaparelli name was revived in 2014 with its first clothing collection being sold from a Parisian boutique strictly by appointment only. Since then, Daniel Roseberry, as the company’s creative director, has followed in Elsa’s footsteps designing wearable works of art.

If these shows aren’t quite enough to keep you busy, Dickinson will be hosting an exhibition of its own this summer, to include grand manner portraiture – more details to follow soon when we look forward to welcoming you to the gallery.