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Visual Arts

Best art exhibitions, London, 2018

By Lucy Scovell on 28/2/2018

The King of Cling gets a solo show at Design Museum London, Picasso gets a blockbuster retrospective at Tate Modern and the RA celebrates its 250th anniversary: these are the best art exhibitions, London, 2018

Bridget Riley: Recent Paintings 2014-2017 Installation view, David Zwirner Gallery

Bridget Riley exhibition, David Zwirner Gallery ★★★★★

David Zwirner Gallery devotes its three-floor Mayfair site to new works by the mezmerising Bridget Riley in January 2018. We saw it, and quite frankly, the result is mesmerising.

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WHEN
19 Jan 2018 – 10 Mar 2018, Closed Sundays and Mondays
WHERE
David Zwirner
24 Grafton Street, London, W1S 4EZ
Installation images | Andreas Gursky at Hayward Gallery 25 January - 22 April 2018 | credit Linda Nylind

Andreas Gursky, Hayward Gallery, London, review ★★★★★

After a two-year refurb, Hayward Gallery London reopens with a phenomenal Andreas Gursky exhibition. The gallery has deliberately gone big with this retrospective, and we love it.

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WHEN
25 Jan 2018 – 22 Apr 2018, Opening times not yet confirmed
WHERE
Hayward Gallery
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), Charles I on Horseback with M. de St Antoine, 1633. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018 Exhibition organised in partnership with Royal Collection Trust

Charles I: King and Collector, Royal Academy ★★★★★

This year, The Royal Academy celebrates its 250th anniversary. To kick off the celebrations, the museum's director, Christopher Le Brun, wanted to curate one of the greatest exhibitions of his career. Charles I: King and Collector reunites the greatest British art collection of all time for the first time in 350 years. It's a complete triumph.

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WHEN
27 Jan 2018 – 15 Apr 2018, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
Royal Academy
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD
The Titanic in dry dock, c.1911, © Getty Images

Ocean Liners: Speed & Style, review, V&A ★★★★★

Smashing all expectations, the V&A's first major exhibition of 2018 is fun, glitzy, and really quite a ride. Bon Voyage.

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WHEN
03 Feb 2018 – 10 Jun 2018, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
V&A
South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Paz Errázuriz. From the series La Manzana de Adán (Adam’s Apple), 1983

Another Kind of Life, Barbican, review ★★★★★

From prostitutes to street-peddlers and cross-dressers to circus performers: the Barbican celebrates the outsider in its compelling exhibition of photography spanning the last 50 years.

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WHEN
28 Feb 2018 – 27 May 2018, Last entry 5.30pm
WHERE
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
Lucian Freud, Girl With Dog (1950-1). Tate. © Tate

Review: All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life, Tate Britain, ★★★★★

Life laid bare: Fronted by Bacon and Freud, Tate Britain offers a striking survey of modern figurative painting. It may require stamina, but it's bold, challenging and utterly captivating. It's a total triumph.

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WHEN
28 Feb 2018 – 27 Aug 2018, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
Tate Britain
Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG
Pablo Picasso, The Dream, 1932

Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy ★★★★★, Tate Modern

One of the most significant shows of the year opens at Tate Modern: Picasso 1932, Love, Fame, Tragedy is erotic, often brutal but everything we hoped it would be.

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WHEN
08 Mar 2018 – 10 Sep 2018, Sunday to Thursday 10.00-18.00 Friday to Saturday 10.00-22.00
WHERE
Tate Modern
Bankside, London, SE1 9TG
Cape, Auguste Champot, about 1895, France. Museum no. T.84-1968. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Fashioned from Nature, V&A

Showcasing the ways in which fashionable dress has drawn on the natural world over the past 400 years, the V&A's Fashioned from Nature is sure to the exhibition everyone's talking about.

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WHEN
21 Apr 2018 – 27 Jan 2019, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
V&A
South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Azzedine Alaïa

Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier, Design Museum

The Design Museum London stages a blockbuster Azzedine Alaïa retrospective exploring the life and work of a modern master. Following the couturier's sudden passing in November 2017, Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier is a timely tribute to a fashion legend.

Read more ...
WHEN
10 May 2018 – 07 Oct 2018, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
Design Museum
224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, London, W8 6AG
Detail from Claude Monet, 'The Grand Canal (Le Grand Canal)', 1908 © Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Gift of Osgood Hooker 1960.29​

Review: Monet & Architecture, National Gallery, London ★★★★★

The National Gallery's new exhibition of Claude Monet paintings majestically illuminates a much neglected facet of the painter's work.

Read more ...
WHEN
09 Apr 2018 – 29 Jul 2018, Saturday - Thursday 10:00 - 18:00, Friday 10:00 - 21:00
WHERE
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN
Grayson Perry

Summer Exhibition 2018, Royal Academy

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is renowned for its chaotic, non-hierarchical 'Salon Hang', its glamorous visitors and its insights into the flourishing emerging arts scene. 2018's 250th anniversary edition, curated by contemporary artist Grayson Perry, is set to be bigger and better than ever. Budding artists out there, the entry submission process is now open.

Read more ...
WHEN
12 Jun 2018 – 19 Aug 2018, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
Royal Academy
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD
Frida Kahlo's wardrobe, V&A

Frida Kahlo's wardrobe, V&A

A guaranteed hit. In 2018, come worship at the altar of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo in a rare exhibition of her wardrobe and possessions at the V&A.

Read more ...
WHEN
16 Jun 2018 – 04 Nov 2018, Times TBC
WHERE
V&A
South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II (Michael Jackson), 2010

Michael Jackson: On the Wall, National Portrait Gallery

Will you be there? Get set for Michael Jackson: On the Wall, the National Portrait Gallery's summer blockbuster.

Read more ...
WHEN
28 Jun 2018 – 21 Oct 2018, Open daily 10:00-18:00. Open late Thursday and Friday until 21:00
WHERE
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Thomas Gainsborough, The Morning Walk, 1785

Gainsborough’s Family Album, National Portrait Gallery

This autumn, the UK's most famous eighteenth-century portrait artist, Thomas Gainsborough, will be the star of a 2018 solo retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery.

Read more ...
WHEN
22 Nov 2018 – 03 Feb 2019, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
WHERE
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE
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