For a brief 12 hours we had a friendly reminder of what the sun looks like. Albeit short lived, it has given us a flavour of blissful warmer months ( and how messed up our climate is) Spring could bloom at any moment, and with that so is the art scene, with this month busier than ever with a plethora of new London art exhibitions across the city. At the Wellcome Collection, ‘Coming of Age’ explores the perceptions of aging from adolescence to adulthood, while at Serpentine David Hockney presents an exhibition inviting people to slow down and enjoy the beauty within the mundane. There are also new galleries to explore, including Santi on Robert Street, and Spazio Leone’s outpost in Hackney. Rachel Whiteread presents her drawings with sculptures for the first time at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, or perhaps feel the nostalgia of Y2K at Hypha Gallery. From group shows to career retrospectives, plan your next visit with our frequently updated guide to the month’s best offerings.
Heading across the pond? Here are the best New York art exhibitions to see this month.
London art exhibitions: what to see in March 2026
M Lissoni, Holy Bite
In the picture artworks from left: Untitled, 2026 Galvanised steel, human hair; Queer Mutations, 2026 Velvet, foam cushion, stacked newsprint, engraved nickel communion tray; Martyr (self-diagnosed), 2026 Hanging curtain in aged copper
East of Regent’s Park, under a flock of stairs and through Season 4 Episode 6, hangs a holy(ish) world laid out by artist M Lissoni for anyone courageous enough to peer in. Set within the austere rooms of Santi, founded by Santiago Steib in 2025, the contemporary gallery’s fourth exhibition and the artist’s first solo show in London, 'Holy Bite', considers relics. The show explores the absurdity, allure, and questionable legitimacy of relics as well as the peculiar worth that has been attributed to them for centuries. Beginning with their religious origins and briskly developing into more syncretic, slippery efforts, 'Holy Bite' also asks how myth is created, maintained, and deliberately bent. What qualifies anything as sacrosanct, and who has the last say? These enquiries, which examine history-making and reappropriation practices, feel easily transferable to different belief, power, and authority systems, unpacking inherited structures such as Catholicism, without certainly pausing there. Spread across three spaces, the display consists of both wall-based and installation-based pieces, like Spirit-Surplus, an otherworldly tongue-in-cheek holy shrine, or Queer Mutations, an index of both verified and suspicious relics.
Writer Gabriel Annouka
The Coming of Age
Wellcome Collection from 25 March 2026
At the Wellcome Collection, ‘Coming of Age’ explores the perceptions of aging from adolescence to adulthood. Specifically it looks at how societies can adapt for us all to age better. The exhibition is rooted in the statistic that people are living longer. In the UK one in ten children are expected to live beyond the age of 100. The question the exhibition asks is ‘Who gets to live longer and “age well”?’ Bringing together different perspectives from art, science and popular culture, ‘Coming of Age’ explores the assumptions made about life stages and asks what greater longevity means for all of us.
Iria Leino: Open Secret
The Arts Club until 26 April 2026
The Arts Club presents a retrospective of Iria Leino (1932–2022). The Finnish-born, New York-based painter was known for her abstract paintings which captured post-war America. It is a great look into the lesser-known artist ( due to her more reclusive, non-commercial practice), and introduces people to her rediscovered body of work.
Spazio Leone’s new gallery
Spazio Leone, Shacklewell Lane, Hackney
Spazio Leone has opened its namesake gallery in Hackney within a former Victorian textile factory. It was established by Napoli-native Gennaro Leone, and features less art and more design, However, Leone who is a dealer and curator specialises in sourcing one-of-a-kind objects and distinctive furniture, as well as creating deeply personal living environments. You will find pieces by cult Italian designers alongside works from contemporary artists.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting
Serpentine North from 12 March until 23 August 2026
In his latest exhibition, and his first at Serpentine, David Hockney presents an exhibition inviting people to slow down and enjoy the beauty within the mundane. New works were created specifically for the showcase, rooted in his belief that beauty is worth celebrating.
Rachel Whiteread: On Paper
Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert until 18 April 2026
For artist Rachel Whiteread, she has long stated that she keeps her sculptures and drawings separate, with many works having labels on the back stating: ‘It is Rachel Whiteread’s express wish that none of her drawings should be exhibited alongside her sculptures’. Here, we see the works in tangent. The exhibition, which was created in close partnership with the artists, presents a moment in her own understanding of how she wants her works to be viewed. The exhibition full of drawings dated from the 1990s which have never been shown, coupled with her sculptural work, highlights its fluid relationship of texture from glossy, and grainy, to direct and bold.
Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
National Portrait Gallery from 5 March until 31 May 2026
American artist Catherine Opie presents her photographic portraits in her first major museum exhibition in the UK. Opie’s work explores queer communities, children, surfers, high school footballers, political crowds, and self-portraiture. Making these groups visible, her work ranges from 30 years, including her 1991 collection Being and Having, which are her portraits of LGBTQ+ friends inspired by court painter Hans Holbein. Collectively she highlights subjects who are seen and unseen in art.
Cecily Brown: Picture Making
Serpentine South Gallery from 27 March until 6 September 2026
Inspired by Kensington Gardens, painter Cecily Brown presents her green compositions which dance with bold brushwork, and colour, resulting in dynamic movement within her pieces. Nature and park life are at the forefront of Brown’s work. Here you will see her exploring this theme through scale and colour, along with a sprinkling of romance from couples, woodland scenes and nature walks. It is a hopeful exhibition, which highlights the beauty within the English landscape, the nostalgia of children’s book illustrations, and has a hint of warning through cautionary tales, all of which are gestures to Brown’s own memories.
Best Femmes Forever
Pilar Corrias, London until 7 March 2026
Artists Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley’s satirical video installation reconsiders three women who lost their lives in the French Revolution. ‘Best Femmes Forever’ gives a voice to Marie Antoinette, her best friend the Princesse de Lamballe, and King Louis XV’s mistress – Marie Antoinette’s rival at the court of Versailles – Madame du Barry, all of whom were killed in extremely brutal ways during the revolution.
Writer: Amah-Rose Abrams
'Internet Cafe'
Hypha Gallery 1, No. 1 Poultry until 7 March 2026
‘Internet Cafe’ is an exhibition exploring 2000s themes. Staged at Sir James Stirling’s fittingly postmodern No.1 Poultry, the exhibition brings together works by 17 artists responding to the decade itself, and to our collective longing for it. Internet Cafe spans painting, drawing, photography, print, sculpture and installation. The exhibition places particular emphasis on the disappearance of social and cultural rituals once tied to handheld technology, recalling the gadgets and gizmos of the millennium to pose probing questions about our digitally-centred present.
Writer Anna Solomon
Shifting Boundaries
Hauser & Wirth until 30 April 2026
Ōsaka-born artist Takesada Matsutani will showcase his first exhibition in London in over a decade. The exhibition deep dives into his signature style: working with vinyl glue and graphite. It ranges from his previous sculptural pieces to new works that show his experimentation with the unusual medium.
A Bug’s Life
Chisenhale Gallery until 22 March 2026
‘A Bug’s Life’ marks Berlin-based artist Arash Nassiri’s first institutional solo exhibition. The artist explores moving image and sculptural installation to create an immersive site of layered storytelling and a dreamlike world. He looks at an opulent Beverly Hills mansion that fuses Iranian and American aesthetics, built in the 1980s-90s before the city of Los Angeles banned the style.
From Bessemer to the Cosmos
Edel Assanti until 14 March 2026
Coinciding with the ten year anniversary of American artist Thornton Dial's passing, Edel Assanti is opening ‘From Bessemer to the Cosmos’, marking the artist's first UK solo show. The exhibition brings together largely unseen works from a pivotal decade of his career from 1988-98. Dial drew on decades of manual labour and Southern traditions like 'yard shows' and quilting to create a bold, distinctive style that defied conventional art-world labels.
Lynda Benglis and Giacometti: Back at ya
Barbican until 31 May 2026
Barbican presents ‘Back at ya’ by Lynda Benglis and Giacometti. Benglis is known for her vibrant forms she creates which balance playful energy with visceral abstract touches. Here, she will present almost 30 unseen works (which have until now hung on the walls of her studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico). Made from handmade paper stretched over chicken wire and embellished with “cast sparkle”, they will be shown alongside iconic pieces by Giacometti.
Echo by Klára Hosnedlová
White Cube until 29 March 2026
Klára Hosnedlová’s solo exhibition Echo marks her debut with the gallery. Her distinctive multidisciplinary style spans from spanning sculpture, performance, architecture, and intricate embroidery. She is known for creating immersive installations that draw on historical narratives, and Central-Eastern European architectural forms, evoking futuristic archaeological worlds.
Tracey Emin: A Second Life
Tate Modern until 31 August
A much-anticipated landmark exhibition will open this month, tracing 40 years of Tracey Emin’s work, including painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation – and spanning unseen pieces as well as some of her most renowned works, such as the radical My Bed from 1998. The exhibition will explore her raw confessional work, which sparked widespread debate when she rose to prominence in the 1990s. Here, she explores themes of love, trauma, passion, pain and healing.
Conceptual Art and Christine Kozlov
Raven Row until 26 April 2026
At Raven Row, the work of Christine Kozlov (1945-2005) is examined in terms of her part in art’s radical new direction that would became known as Conceptual Art. The exhibition traces the American artist’s practice, first in New York, then through her move to the UK (in 1977) and her responses to global political events. Focusing on her objects, ideas and collaborative practices, the exhibition unveils the scope of Kozlov’s artistic activity from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s.
Aki Sasamoto: Grilled Diagrams
Studio Voltaire until 19 April 2026
Studio Voltaire presents ‘Grilled Diagrams’, Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto’s first solo show in the UK. Here, visitors will find a major site-specific installation which acts as both a sculptural environment and performance set. In the middle of the installation is a large, oversized griddle inspired by television cooking shows and street food carts. In the opening and closing weeks of the exhibition, Sassamoto inserts herself into the installation, whereby her performances unfold as live acts of drawing or choreography focusing on the manipulation of ingredients.
Isaac Julien: All That Changes You. Metamorphosis
Victoria Miro until 21 March 2026
Isaac Julien presents ‘All That Changes You. Metamorphosis’, the five-screen film installation, coupled with new photographic works. The film is a visual poem about change, how to transform and how to adapt. The project was commissioned to celebrate 500 years of Palazzo Te, Mantua, Italy (where it is currently on view) and exhibited at Victoria Miro for the first time as a five-screen installation. The artist’s world dances between science fiction, philosophy and art looking at new forms of life and identity before the human.
Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting
The National Portrait Gallery until 4 May 2026
Drawing into Painting marks the UK’s first museum exhibition dedicated to Lucian Freud’s works on paper, and his lifelong exploration of the human face and form. The National Portrait Gallery presents his works in pencil, ink, charcoal and etching.
Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First
Royal Academy until 19 April 2026
With her work nodding to fIlms and with echoes of the Second World War, Rose Wylie’s paintings are alive with references to cinema, celebrities, literature, and ancient civilisation. Focusing mostly on iconic women, think Nicole Kidman, Marilyn Monroe, Serena Williams, and Snow White, she creates paintings that intertwine with her own lived experiences such as living through the Blitz as a young girl. Wylie found success in her career as a painter, which she started later in life in her fifties.
Beatriz González
Barbican until 10 May 2026
Colombian artist Beatriz González (who recently passed away earlier this year) is known for her bold work which explores the power and impact of the images we encounter everyday.
The exhibition , which features over 150 of her works, varies from large scale paintings to repurposed furniture, wallpaper and installations. The images that inspire her questions power structures to looking at violence, and offering her personal reflection on grief and community.
Luigi Ghirri: Felicità
Thomas Dane Gallery until 9 May 2026
‘Luigi Ghirri: Felicità’ at Thomas Dane Gallery proposes happiness not as a condition to be attained, but as a way of inhabiting the world through images. Curated by Alessio Bolzoni and Luca Guadagnino, and unfolding across both of Thomas Dane’s Duke Street spaces, the exhibition makes a persuasive case for Ghirri as one of the most lucid thinkers of photography’s perceptual limits – and one of its most generous practitioners.
Writer: Finn Blythe
Sam Lipp
Soft Opening until 4 March 2026
Sam Lipp rethinks traditional portraiture in 'Base', a new show at Soft Opening. Whether showing himself, live models, or figures from found images, Lipp’s paintings all reflect his inner world to some degree. 'When I decided to drag a piece for the first time, it was based on my emotional state,' he tells me. 'I continue to have a desire to destroy what I create, projecting my emotions and personality onto the image. Shame, guilt, joy, passion... The dragging and rusting have a wildness and uncontrollability to them, but I’m learning how to manipulate them.'
Writer: Emily Steer
Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey
Whitechapel Gallery until 1 March 2026
Joy Gregory’s first major survey show at the Whitechapel Gallery takes its title from a proverb said by her mother. In every room, her words – ‘you catch more flies with honey than vinegar’ – ring true. Gregory’s honeyed photographs hold a pertinent political message that sticks. Using nineteenth-century photographic processes to explore issues such as race, gender and colonialism, Gregory’s works pack a punch, rendering them all the sweeter for it.
Writer: Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou
Wes Anderson: The Archives
Design Museum until 26 July 2026
The pastel-tinted world of Wes Anderson is celebrated in a retrospective coming to London’s Design Museum. This is the first exhibition dedicated to the director that looks at the evolution of his films. It will showcase over 600 models, props and costumes from Anderson’s films, from his first experiments in the 1990s right up to his most recent Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Accompanying this, the exhibition will also feature his first drafts and work-in-progress material, including small-scale models such as the 3m wide model of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Blitz: the club that shaped the 80s
Design Museum until 29 March 2026
Spandau Ballet’s debut photo shoot at the Warren Street squat, 1980
The Blitz club, which launched the careers of acts such as Spandau Ballet, Visage, and Boy George, transformed London style in the 1980s. The Design Museum welcomes visitors to explore the club’s history and atmosphere through music, fashion, film and graphic design.
Marie Antoinette Style
V&A South Kensington until 22 March 2026
V&A South Kensington presents a landmark exhibition on the most mythologised queen in European history: ‘Marie Antoinette Style’. Across 250 objects, this exhibition, sponsored by Manolo Blahnik, traces the 18th-century monarch’s origins as a fashion icon, concluding in the present day with pieces from contemporary designers exemplifying her enduring legacy.
Writer: India Birgitta Jarvis
Read the full review of Marie Antoinette Style
The David Bowie Centre
V&A East Storehouse, permanent
Fashion, memorabilia and personal ephemera from David Bowie, now on view at the V&A East Storehouse in London, are as wondrous in their range as their creator. The pioneering musician's 90,000-item personal archive are equally accessible, and – like the artist at the heart of it – equally wondrous in their range. Bowie was an inveterate curator – you might say hoarder – of his own life, keeping every quicksilver fashion statement, every scrap of paper, every piece of memorabilia, amassing a deeply personal life-map that accompanies the Centre’s 70,000 photographs, negatives and colour transparencies. So, alongside the rejection letters are fan correspondence that he kept with equal assiduousness.
Writer Craig McLean
Read the full review of The David Bowie Centre
Nigerian Modernism
Tate Modern until 10 May 2026
‘Nigerian Modernism’ explores modern art in Nigeria in the mid-20th century and the artists who pioneered the movement. Visitors journey through a story of artistic works which spanned across Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu, as well as London, Munich and Paris. The exhibition looks at multidimensional works which unites Nigerian, African and European techniques by artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960.
1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader
Wellcome Collection until 6 April 2026
At the Wellcome Collection creative duo Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader have collaborated on their latest exhibition ‘1880 THAT’ which includes film, installation and drawings to explore the communication between signed and spoken languages, and challenge a medical perspective of deafness as something to be cured. The brick motif is a recurring theme in the exhibition symbolising the building blocks of language, as well as the act of throwing bricks as a gesture of protest. The exhibition is a mix of witty design, humour and word play to uncover the complexities of meaning and (mis)understanding.