The Best Exhibitions To See In London This September

The Best Exhibitions In London | September 2024

London is full of exhibitionists.

In fact, we have some of the finest in the world.

And right now, they’re doing what they do best: showcasing some utterly fascinating topics at the array of amazing museums and art galleries in London. Coming up this September is a brand new infinity room from Yayoi Kusama; some of the greatest work of Van Gogh’s career; a colourful retrospective of everyday objects; a free-to-visit al fresco sculpture trail; and the art world’s most famously unusual prize…

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18 AMAZING LONDON EXHIBITIONS TO SEE IN SEPTEMBER 2024:

1) Turner Prize 2024 | Tate Britain

The Turner Prize is probably the most prestigious award a British artist can receive. Since its inauguration in 1984, it’s been awarded for Tracey Emin’s unmade bed, Damien Hirst’s pickled shark in a tank, and – almost – to Anthea Hamilton for her 18ft sculpture of a man’s hands pulling his buttocks apart. Basically, it’s the artiest of art world occasions, and you can catch this year’s four nominees (Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas) on display at Tate Britain this month.

Details: The Turner Prize 2024 is on at Tate Britain from 25th September – 16th February. The winner will be announced on 3rd December. Tickets cost £14, or £5 for free Tate Collective members (U25s).
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2) Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers | The National Gallery

Yep, this one’s a biggie. The Dutch post-impressionist made over 2100 works of art in his short life, the bulk of which were in his final two years spent in the south of France. This exhibition makes the case that they marked a revolution in his style, influenced by the poetic, bohemian types he was mingling with at the time. But honestly, with blockbusters like Sunflowers, The Yellow House and Starry Night over the Rhône, it’s mostly an opportunity to feast your eyes on some truly great art.

Details: Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers is on at The National Gallery from 14th September 2024 – 19th January 2025. Tickets start at £24.
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3) Michael Craig-Martin | Royal Academy

Michael Craig-Martin’s bold, graphic paintings are so deceptively simple, so contemporary-looking, that it’s easy to lose sight of how radical and distinctive they were when he came to prominence in the late 60s. Drawing on the pop art movement across the pond, he’s best known for his large scale, boldly outlined, block colour renditions of everyday objects (and his piece that takes the form of a really long, strange interview where he claims to have transformed a glass of water into an oak tree). Displayed all together here in the lofty galleries of the RA, they’ll make quite the impact.

Details: Michael Craig-Martin is at the RA from 21st September – 1oth December. Tickets cost £22-24.50.
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4) Yayoi Kusama: EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR LOVE | Victoria Miro

Sharpen your virtual elbows for the ticket drop for Yayoi Kusama’s next London exhibition. One of Japan’s greatest living artists, she’s known for her fondness for covering everything in spots (especially giant pumpkins), and for her dazzling infinity mirror rooms (the two on display at Tate Modern sold out for the entirety of their three year stay). This will be her 14th solo show with the gallery, and promises a load of new paintings and sculpture alongside a new infinity room, Beauty Described by a Spherical Heart.

Details: Yayoi Kusama: EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR LOVE runs at the Victoria Miro Gallery from 25th September – 2nd November. Tickets are free, but you must pre-book here.
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5) Barbie: The Exhibition | Design Museum

The Design Museum has just opened a new show tracing the design story of the world’s most famous 11.5-inch influencer: Barbie. And in a way, it’s quite a difficult exhibition to review, for the simple reason it is exactly what you would expect.

Opening to mark the 65th anniversary of her creation – and coincidentally coming off the back of the 2023 movie that made a billion dollars at the global box office – it’s another vibrant excuse to immerse yourself in pure Barbiecore. And if that sounds good to you, you’ll have an absolute blast…

Details: Barbie®: The Exhibition runs at the Design Museum until 23rd February 2025. You can book tickets here (£14.38+).
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6) Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking | Dulwich Picture Gallery

124 years after he visited Dulwich Picture Gallery on a grand tour of Europe’s artistic capitals, Yoshida Hiroshi is being honoured on its walls. The print-making dynasty that he began is widely celebrated in Japan but little-known here – and after seeing this, you’ll wonder why. It’s a breathtaking collection, starting with Hiroshi’s dream-like ukiyo-e, moving through the postwar abstract dynamism of his sons Tōshi and Hadaka, and ending with a meditative installation from the family’s youngest member, Ayomi. It’ll really leave its mark on you.

Details: Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking runs at Dulwich Picture Gallery until 3rd November. Tickets cost £20.
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7) Zanele Muholi | Tate Modern

Sometimes an exhibition rolls into town with so much to say, it takes a good few hours for it all to sink in. The sprawling retrospective of the South African artist Zanele Muholi at Tate Modern is one such show. Over 300 photographs are packed into this expanded edition of a previous show that was cut short by the pandemic. Every one of them honours, commemorates or empowers members of the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa, placing empathetic but harrowing documentation of sexual abuse alongside celebratory images and Muholi’s defiant series of self-portraits that reclaim their Blackness. It’s an epic show that’s been showered with critical acclaim.

Details: Zanele Muholi is on at the Tate Modern until 26th January 2025. Tickets cost £18 or £5 for U25s signed up to Tate Collective.
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8) Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider | Tate Modern

The Tate’s critically acclaimed new exhibition brings together 130 or so masterpieces from the expressionist collective known as the Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) – and you should prepare your eyeballs for some good ol’ fashioned dazzlement. You’ll see the whirling canvasses of the famous synaesthete Wassily Kandinsky; the colourful landscapes wrangled into dynamic forms by Marianne von Werefkin; the lovingly observed and slightly absurd portraits of Gabriele Münter. And it’s educational, too, from the theories of colour to the sociopolitical forces that both triggered and frustrated this exhilarating movement.

Details: Expressionists runs at Tate Modern until 20th October. Tickets cost £22.
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9) Ernest Cole: House of Bondage | The Photographer’s Gallery

The latest exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery brings together 100+ photographs taken from the seminal House of Bondage project by Ernest Cole, which documented Black lives under Apartheid in South Africa. He fled the country in 1966, publishing the photobook in New York a year later, where it was ground-breaking in its unflinching portrayal of the system’s terrible injustices. As always, visiting the gallery gives you access to multiple exhibitions, so while you’re here check out Meditations on Love, a guest exhibition curated for the gallery by Develop Collective that celerbates love in all its forms, and Graciela Iturbide: Shadowlines, which showcases the Mexican photographer’s unparalleled understanding of light and shadow as she documented life in indigenous communities.

Details: All exhibitions at The Photographer’s Gallery run until 22nd September, and can be seen with one entry ticket (£8, or £6.50 online) – you can book entry tickets here.
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10) In the Eye of the Storm | Royal Academy of Arts

This dynamic exhibition showcases art from early 20th century Ukraine, when artists were redefining their practice against a backdrop of war & political upheaval. You’ll see the experimental Cubo-Futurism that arose from artists studying abroad (no Ukrainian city was permitted to have an art academy at the turn of the 20th century). There’s the dramatic scenography of theatre designers Alexandra Exter and Les Kurbas. And you’ll learn about the short-lived public art movement of the Boichukists, who were crushed under Stalin. It’s an enlightening display of art and history wrapped into one.

Details: In the Eye of the Storm runs at the RA until 13th October. You can book tickets (£17) here.
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11) Now You See Us | Tate Britain

If you were asked to name a famous artist in the Western canon from the 19th century or earlier, you’d be forgiven for thinking of at least 20 male names before coming up with a female one. Tate Britain’s latest exhibition sets out to put women artists from history into the spotlight, from Royal Academy founder Angelica Kauffman and 17th century portraitist Mary Beale to the pioneering Laura Knight (who was the first woman to receive a retrospective at the RA). Most refreshingly, it demonstrates that they rebelled against the idea of painting being a hobby, or sticking to ‘safe’ subjects – the artwork here ranges from delicate floral still lifes to bold nudes and battle scenes.

Details: Now You See Us runs at Tate Britain until 13th October. Tickets cost £20.
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12) Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences | Pitzhanger Manor

The Turner Prize-winning artist weaves contemporary allegory into six enormous tapestries inspired by Hogarth’s 18th century engraving series, A Rake’s Progress. Following the ‘class journey’ of the fictional Tim Rakewell, they probe ideas around social mobility, class, taste and identity through scenes inspired by Perry’s tour around Sunderland, the Cotswolds and Tunbridge Wells. Plus, you can immediately go and compare them to the original Hogarth prints, which hang in the manor’s stately living room.

Details: Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences is on at Pitzhanger Manor until 8th December. Admission is included with tickets to the house, which are £13.20 (but there are also free entry times for Ealing residents).
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13) Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography | The King’s Gallery

More than 150 prints are on show at this highly glamorous exhibition, with portraits going back as far as the 1920s. There are Cecil Beaton’s beautiful, Vogue-style shoots of the Queen Mother as a young woman; intimate snaps of Princess Margaret through the lens of her future husband, the Earl of Snowdon; Andy Warhol’s iconic pop art screen print of Queen Elizabeth; and more relaxed shots of the current King & Queen at home (so yes, in the palace).

Details: Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography is on show at The King’s Gallery until 6th October. Tickets cost £19.
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14) David Hockney: Bigger and Closer (not smaller & further away) | Lightroom

David Hockney has always embraced new technologies. In the ’80s he used photocopiers & faxes, in the ’90s he used computers & polaroids, in the ’00s he used iPhones & iPads… and now he’s using four-storey high, completely immersive, state-of-the-art digital projection spaces. Classic him. After rave reviews last year, Lightroom is bringing back its debut show, David Hockney: Bigger and Closer. And the secret to its success lies in the fact that the artwork was made specifically for the space, enveloping you in enormous, colourful brushstrokes…

Details: David Hockney: Bigger and Closer is on at Lightroom until 6th October. Tickets cost £25.
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15) Frieze Sculpture 2024 | Regent’s Park

The Frieze art fair sounds like it was made for sculptures. And as always, there’ll be a sprawling, free to visit al fresco trail throughout Regent’s Park while the main fair is running. This year there are 22 artists from across the globe taking part, including Theaster Gates, Nika Neelova, Zanele Muholi and Leonora Carrington

Details: Frieze Sculpture is on display in Regent’s Park from 18th September – 27th October 2024, and is free to visit.
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16) Fragile Beauty | V&A

Sir Elton John and David Furnish have a mind-blowing personal collection of photography, and this is just a slice of it. But you’ll get to see striking images from some of the art form’s biggest names, including Mario Testino, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, David LaChapelle and Irving Penn. Themes emerge as you walk through – celebrity, desire, fashion, idolism – but this is mainly just a great opportunity to see a load of really amazing art in one place.

Details: Fragile Beauty runs at the V&A until 5th January 2025. Tickets cost £22.
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17) Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre | Natural History Museum

Birds are the only surviving dinosaurs. They can suck blood, and bathe in acid. Basically, they’re super weird. And this exhibition delves beyond London’s scraggly pigeon population to showcase the weird and wonderful behaviours and adaptations of the 11,000 different species that soar through our skies (or not – sorry, emus).

Details: Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre runs at the Natural History Museum until 5th January 2025. Entry starts at £16.50, you can pre-book tickets here.
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18) The Moonwalkers | Lightroom

The Moonwalkers exhibition is out of this world. Really. It’s essentially like walking into a documentary, with vintage footage from the first moon landings and panoramic snaps of the lunar surface drenching the four storey-high, state-of-the-art gallery space where every surface is a screen. And then there’s the fact that it’s narrated – quite appropriately – by a star named Tom Hanks…

Details: The Moonwalkers runs until 13th October at Lightroom, King’s Cross. Tickets cost £25.

 

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