Art exhibitions opening in London in June 2025
June brings a varied slate of exhibitions to London, spanning historic retrospectives, new commissions, and provocative solo presentations. This range includes major shows like the Kiefer/Van Gogh pairing at the Royal Academy of Arts and Yoshitomo Nara’s European retrospective at Hayward Gallery, alongside new works from artists such as Dan Guthrie at Chisenhale and Rachel Jones at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Alongside these, the city’s art schools open their doors for degree shows, showcasing the next generation of artists and offering a glimpse of emerging trends and ideas. Here is our guide to art exhibitions opening in London this June to watch out for.
Kiefer / Van Gogh
Anselm Kiefer. De sterrennacht (The Starry Night), 2019. Emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, straw, gol af, wood, wire, sediment of an electrolysis on canvas. 470 x 840 cm. Courtesy of the Artist an White Cube. Photo: Georges Poncet. © Anselm Kiefer
#FLODown: Kiefer/Van Gogh at the Royal Academy of Arts brings together, for the first time in the UK, the works of Anselm Kiefer and Vincent van Gogh, showcasing how Van Gogh’s influence helped shape Kiefer’s artistic development over nearly six decades. Through a powerful display of paintings, drawings and sculptures—some previously unseen—the exhibition highlights shared themes such as landscapes, crows, wheatfields, and a mutual fascination with literature and texture. Kiefer’s large-scale works, including Die Krähen and a newly created sculpture of a sunflower rising from a pile of books, are shown alongside major Van Gogh pieces from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, such as Field of Irises near Arles and Piles of French Novels. This unique pairing offers a fresh perspective on both artists’ processes and visual languages.
A solo exhibition of Anselm Kiefer’s painting will also open at White Cube Mason’s Yard (25 June – 16 August 2025) to coincide with this exhibition.
Date: 28 June – 26 October 2025. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: from £22. Concessions available. Book now.
Dan Guthrie: Empty Alcove / Rotting Figure
Dan Guthrie, production image, 2024, Courtesy of the artist.
#FLODown: Dan Guthrie’s exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery explores representations and mis-representations of Black Britishness, especially in rural areas, through moving images. The work focuses on the Blackboy Clock, an object of contested heritage publicly displayed in Guthrie’s hometown of Stroud, Gloucestershire. Guthrie introduces the concept of ‘radical un-conservation,’ meaning acquiring an object with the intention of destroying it. The exhibition includes two new videos and launches an online platform (earf.info) that traces the clock’s history and ongoing debates about its future. The project raises important questions about what and how we memorialise.
Date: 6 June-17 August 2025. Location: 64 Chisenhale Road, London, E3 5QZ. Price: Free. chisenhale.org.uk.
Abstract Erotic: Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Alice Adams
Eva Hesse, No title, Nets, enamel, string, paper, metal, cord,1966, Private Collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Collection Services © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
#FLODown: Abstract Erotic at The Courtauld Gallery presents a bold re-examination of sculpture in 1960s New York through the work of Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Alice Adams. These three visionary artists challenged the conventions of modern sculpture with playful, visceral, and abstract forms that explored the body, sexuality, and identity using materials such as latex, foam, string, and plaster. Coined by critic Lucy Lippard as “abstract erotic,” their work prefigured feminist ideas and was first shown together in the landmark 1966 exhibition Eccentric Abstraction. This new exhibition—the first of its kind at The Courtauld—features rarely seen sculptures from major international collections, with Adams’ work receiving its first-ever UK museum showing. Alongside the main exhibition, Louise Bourgeois: Drawings from the 1960s will explore how her drawings fed directly into her sculptural practice. Together, the shows celebrate a radical moment in art history and the women who shaped it.
Date: 20 June – 14 September 2025. Location: The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. Price: from £14. Concessions available. Ticket Includes access to the permanent collection and Louise Bourgeois: Drawings from the 1960s. Book now
Milly Thompson: My Body Temperature is Feeling Good
Milly Thompson, Deep Vogueing, 2020, acrylic, gouache and permanent ink on canvas, 284x200cm
#FLODown: The largest UK exhibition of the late British artist Milly Thompson’s work opens at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. Featuring paintings, graphic works, videos, and artist books from 2010 onwards, the show highlights Thompson’s bold exploration of the middle-aged female body and its complex relationship with consumer culture. Known for her unapologetic embrace of female desire and sensuality, her work blends irony and sincerity, drawing on diverse influences ranging from romantic novels to emojis. The exhibition also includes her collaborative projects, such as the satirical fashion magazine Vuoto (2012), offering a interdisciplinary view of her artistic legacy.
Date: 5 June- 24 August 2025. Location: Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, St James's, London SE14 6AD. Price: Free. gold.ac.uk
Yoshitomo Nara
Yoshitomo Nara, Stop the Bombs, 2019. © Yoshitomo Nara, courtesy Yoshitomo Nara Foundation
#FLODown: The Hayward Gallery will delve into the imaginative world of Yoshitomo Nara in the largest European retrospective of the renowned Japanese artist. Featuring over 150 works across drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics, the exhibition offers an intimate look into Nara’s creative universe. Known for his emotionally charged portraits and rebellious spirit, Nara addresses ideas of resistance, isolation, home, and spirituality—drawing influence from nature, mythology, the peace movement, and punk music. This expanded presentation, including early sculptures and new paintings, builds on the touring exhibitions from the Guggenheim Bilbao and Museum Frieder Burda, offering a rare and in-depth encounter with one of contemporary art’s most distinctive voices.
Date: 10 June -31 August 2025. Location: Hayward Gallery, Belvedere Rd, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £20. Concessions available.Book now
London Design Biennale
Turkey, 'Emotional. Reflections: The Soul of Seven Horizons' © Halise Karakay
#FLODown: The London Design Biennale returns to Somerset House this June with its fifth edition, bringing together over 40 designers and change makers from across the world under the theme Surface Reflections, curated by Artistic Director Dr Samuel Ross MBE. This year’s showcase highlights design’s role in confronting global challenges, with pavilions examining everything from environmental repair and cultural heritage to identity and urban living. Key highlights include Poland’s sculptural meditation on waiting, Oman’s reflections on digital memory through traditional pottery, and Nigeria’s challenge to singular narratives of African identity. The Eureka section also features pioneering projects from institutions including UCL, Northumbria University, and VCUarts Qatar, offering a glimpse into design’s research-driven future.
Date: 6 – 29 June 2025. Location: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Price: from £22. Book now
London Open Live
Roshana Rubin Mayhew, Film still from performance of 445, hold, 2022, Performed at Southwark Park Galleries, Video: Sophie Chapman
#FLODown: Whitechapel Gallery’s celebrated open call exhibition returns in 2025 as London Open Live, with a renewed focus on performance and live art. Originally launched in 1932 to highlight artists from London’s East End, the exhibition now represents the city’s wider artistic landscape. This year’s edition responds to the challenges faced by live art during the pandemic, offering a vital platform for both emerging and established artists working in performance-based practices. Taking place Thursdays to Sundays throughout summer 2025, the programme will feature new and recent live works, alongside films and talks that reflect on the role of ‘liveness’ and collectivity in contemporary art. Managed in collaboration with Artquest (UAL), the open call aims to ensure broad accessibility and inclusion within London’s diverse creative community.
Click here to discover more about the programme of events.
Date: 4 June - 7 September 2025. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77 – 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX.
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons
Rachel Jones, Gated Canyons, 2024, courtesy the artist. Photography by Eva Herzog
#FLODown: In June, Dulwich Picture Gallery will present Gated Canyons by Rachel Jones — the first solo exhibition by a contemporary artist to be held in its main galleries. The show will feature a newly commissioned body of work alongside key paintings from the past seven years. Celebrated for her expressive use of colour, abstract forms, and recurring motifs — particularly the mouth — Jones creates emotionally charged, symbolic landscapes that reflect on identity and lived experience. The exhibition responds to Pieter Boel’s Head of a Hound from the Gallery’s collection and introduces new visual elements, including bricks and exposed linen, expanding Jones’s distinctive, layered style.
Dates: 10 June – 19 October 2025. Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD. Price: from £12. Concessions available, free for under-18s. Book now
Edward Burra – Ithell Colquhoun
Edward Burra, Three Sailors at a Bar 1930. Private collection, courtesy of Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert. © The estate of Edward Burra, courtes.
#FLODown: Tate Britain presents a landmark dual exhibition celebrating two radical British artists: Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun. Burra’s vivid watercolours capture the intensity of queer culture, nightlife, and political unrest in the 20th century, while also reflecting his experiences of disability and global events. In his first London retrospective in 40 years, over 80 works reveal his bold, satirical imagination. Shown alongside is Colquhoun’s surreal, mystical practice, spanning over 140 works that explore sexuality, ecology, and the occult. A pioneering surrealist and occultist, her vision is brought to life through paintings, writings, and her striking interpretation of the Tarot deck.
Date: 13 June – 19 October 2025. Location: Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Price: from £18. Concessions available. Book now
Summer Exhibition 2025
Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2024. Photo: © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry
#FLODown: The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition returns for its 257th edition, curated by internationally acclaimed architect Farshid Moussavi RA. This year’s theme, Dialogues, explores how art can open conversations around ecology, identity, and society, with architecture integrated throughout the show for the first time. Highlights include large-scale installations by Alice Channer, Antonio Tarsis, and Tamara Kostianovsky, as well as works by leading Royal Academicians such as Grayson Perry, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, and Jenny Holzer, who is exhibiting for the first time. The show blends contemporary art and architecture across disciplines, with many works available to buy in support of artists and the RA Schools.
Date: 17 June – 17 August 2025. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: From £23; concessions available; under 16s go free. Book now
Kurt Cobain Unplugged: The Story Behind One of Music’s Most Iconic Guitars
MTV Unplugged in New York. For editorial use only. Image credit by Frank Micelotta, Hulton Archive via Getty images.
#FLODown: Opening at the Royal College of Music Museum, Kurt Cobain Unplugged offers an intimate look at the story behind Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged performance. The Martin D-18E guitar Cobain played during the 1993 show — the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction — is on display in the UK for the first time. Also reunited for the first time are the guitar and Cobain’s iconic olive-green mohair cardigan, worn during the performance. The exhibition features a curated selection of rare Nirvana memorabilia, including vintage gig posters and collectible vinyl, reflecting on the band’s cultural impact and Cobain’s enduring legacy. Curated by renowned rock journalist Alan di Perna and museum curator Gabriele Rossi Rognoni, the show will be accompanied by events, live performances, and workshops.
Date: 3 June – 18 November 2025. Location: Royal College of Music Museum, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2BS. Price: £5. Book now
Thirst: In Search of Freshwater
Adam Rouhana, Ein Aouja, 2022. Photographic print. © Adam Rouhana.
#FLODown: Thirst: In Search of Freshwater explores humanity’s vital relationship with freshwater, a scarce yet essential resource that makes up only 3% of the Earth’s total water supply, with almost two-thirds of that locked in frozen ice caps. Featuring 125 objects, the exhibition brings together art, science, history, technology and Indigenous knowledge to examine how people across different cultures and time periods — from ancient Mesopotamia and Victorian London to present-day Nepal and Singapore — have understood and interacted with water. It is organised around five key water conditions: aridity, rain, glaciers, surface water and groundwater, highlighting the environmental and social impact of freshwater access and its importance to both human and planetary health.
Date: 26 June 2025 – 1 February 2026. Location: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE. Price: Free.wellcomecollection.org
Permindar Kaur & Prem Sahib
Permindar Kaur, Unititled – Bed, 2020. Steel, fabric and copper. 86x177x80cm. Photo by Richard Davies.
#FLODown: Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery presents two major summer exhibitions featuring British artists Permindar Kaur and Prem Sahib. Both exhibitions respond to the historic architecture and interiors of Sir John Soane’s former home.
Permindar Kaur: Mirror, Mirror
Kaur’s largest solo exhibition in London to date uses motifs of toys, clothing, and domestic settings. Her figures appear throughout the manor, blending into its rooms to create a sense of both familiarity and unease. The exhibition features new and recent works, including Thresholdand Washing Line Beds, and reflects on how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others.
Prem Sahib, 'Apotropaic 1', 2023. Steel, aluminium, hoodies, wadding. 145x60x50cm. Photo by Ben Westoby
Prem Sahib: Doubles
In Doubles, artist Prem Sahib presents a series of sculptural works and installations that explore ideas of duplication, memory, performance, and queer identity. Set within Pitzhanger Manor and its gardens, the exhibition reflects on the relationship between the site and nearby Walpole Park, using mirrors, repetition, and historical references to disrupt perceptions of space.
Date: 26 June – 21 September 2025. Location: Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, Ealing Green, London W5 5EQ. Price: from £12. Concessions available. Under 16s go free. Pay-what-you-can for Ealing Borough residents every first Thursday of the month 5–8pm, and every Sunday 10am–noon. The admission ticket includes visit to Sir John Soane’s historic house. Book now
London Art School Degree Shows
Slade School of Fine Art’s Degree Show 2024. Image credit MTotoe.
#FLODown: June will see the opening of several degree shows at London art schools across the city, offering the public a chance to explore fresh and innovative work by emerging artists and designers. Highlights include exhibitions at Central Saint Martins in King’s Cross, Camberwell College of Arts in Peckham, City & Guilds of London Art School in Kennington, and Goldsmiths in New Cross. Great shows will also open at the Royal College of Art’s Battersea campus and at the prestigious Royal Academy Schools in Piccadilly. Click here for full listings and dates.
Anderson Borba: Secret Ceremony
Anderson Borba Kiss/Bite [detail], 2024 Wood, paper, shellac and vegetable wax 106 x 36 x 15 cm 41.7 x 14.2 x 5.9 in.
#FLODown: Anderson Borba’s Secret Ceremony, his first solo exhibition at The Approach, features new sculptures and paper collages that explore the material and conceptual possibilities of wood. Combining traditional techniques with digital manipulation, Borba creates rough, textured forms that blur the line between image and object. His works, inspired by both classical sculpture and Brazilian folk art, transform the human body into abstract, totemic shapes that engage viewers with their physical presence and ambiguous, near-human scale.
Date: 5 June -26 July 2025. Location: The approach 1st Floor, 47 Approach Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9LY. Price: Free. theapproach.co.uk
Infinities Commission: Christelle Oyiri
Image credit: Christelle Oyiri. Photo © Chris Lensz
#FLODown: Christelle Oyiri, a Paris-based artist, DJ, and producer, has been named the inaugural recipient of Tate Modern’s new Infinities Commission, which celebrates innovative contemporary art. As part of this honour, she will create a visionary new artwork for The Tanks, Tate Modern’s distinctive performance and installation space, with the commission set to launch in June 2025. Oyiri’s multidisciplinary practice uncovers hidden stories within contemporary culture, media, identity, lost mythologies, youth subcultures, and diasporic histories. To coincide with the commission, a special event, Christelle Oyiri in Conversation, will take place at Tate Modern on 17 June 2025. Tickets for the event are available via the Tate Modern website.
Date: 17 June – 25 August 2025. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG.tate.org.uk
Click here to discover more art exhibitions in London in 2025.
