The best art exhibitions, London, to see this January

London Art Fair 2019

Every year, London Art Fair kicks off the art fair season with glitz and glamour. The 31st edition of the fair brings together more than 100 respected modern and contemporary galleries from around the world, including Hazelton Fine Art Galleries from Canada and Paris-based Galerie Bayart. Dip your toes into the contemporary art market and discover phenomenal talent old and new.

Pierre Bonnard exhibition, Tate Modern

Tate Modern kicks off its 2019 exhibition programme with the first major Pierre Bonnard exhibition in twenty years. This long-overdue exhibition traces Bonnard's creative journey from 1912 to his death in 1947, and, in particular, his response to both the first and second world war.

Bill Viola/Michelangelo, Royal Academy

15 exquisite drawings by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo will be shown alongside major video installations by contemporary artist Bill Viola in a major Royal Academy exhibition opening this January. Juxtaposing Viola and his ancient forebear, for the first time, The Royal Academy will explore the unexpected affinities between the two artists.

Nicole Farhi, Folds, Beaux Arts

Fashion designer turned sculptor Nicole Farhi presents her largest solo exhibition to date. Folds, at Beaux Arts London gallery, celebrates feminine flesh in sumptuous splendour.

Chiharu Shiota: Me Somewhere Else, Blain/Southern London

Blain/Southern presents an exhibition of new work by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota. Shiota uses thread to 'draw' in three dimensions and is renowned across the world for her site-specific, large-scale immersive installations that defy time and space. Her intricate networks of yarn vary in shape and size, but always stem from a personal experience that references the body, memory, life and death.

Suspended from the gallery ceiling, the billowing net of hand-knotted red yarn burgeons from a bronze cast of the artist's feet. Laden with symbolism (blood, and neural pathways), Me Somewhere Else sees a departure from Shiota's ephemeral installations, and asks the viewer to question the complex relationship between mind and body. This large-scale installation is on display alongside new rhomboid sculptures and two-dimensional works on canvas. An exhibition to brighten up your Instagram feed this winter.

eL Seed: Tabula Rasa, Lazinc Gallery

This January, one of Mayfair's hottest contemporary art galleries presents a solo exhibition of new acrylic on canvas paintings by Tunisian-French artist, eL Seed. Best known for his colourful works boasting traditional Arabic calligraphy, eL Seed sees his art as a means of uniting communities and cultures across the world.

This exhibition traces a shift in the artist's engagement with Arabic script; eL Seed's new body of work on display comments on both the meaning and movement of the words invoked. eL Seed has exhibited in institutions and public spaces from the streets of Paris and New York, to the favelas of Rio Di Janeiro. Not one to be missed.

Robert Rauschenberg: Spreads 1975-83, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Ely House

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac hosts the first ever UK exhibition dedicated to the post-war artist’s Spreads series. Rauschenberg created Spreads while preparing for a mid-career retrospective and his reflection on the past can be seen in the large-scale works, which contain many of the main motifs of his earlier Combines series. However, he also brought something new to the series, incorporating bright fabric colour blocks in a step away from his previous urban palette. Twelve works from the series are on display, one of which is over six metres wide.