PAT SUET-BIK HUI & THE THREE PERFECTIONS
Until Jun 28
Ink, calligraphy, and poetry unite in Hui's Three Perfections dialogue.
Art Weekend Away from London
Great museums and galleries outside London worth a weekend trip — from major institutions in Edinburgh, Manchester and Gateshead to gems in Margate, Cornwall and Wakefield. What's on now and opening soon, outside the capital.
Showing 9 museums and 21 exhibitions
Ashmolean Museum
The world's first university museum, the Ashmolean was founded in 1683 and holds the University of Oxford's collections of art and archaeology. The encyclopedic collection spans Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman sculpture, Asian art, Islamic ceramics, and European painting from the medieval period to the 20th century.
IN BLOOM: How Plants Changed Our World
Until Aug 16
Global stories behind beloved blooms, from exploration to trade.
"There are some lovely works of art here but I couldn\’t escape the thought that all of art and science are helpless before the mystery and beauty of a single living daisy."
— The Guardian
ASHMOLEAN NOW: SOMA SUROVI JANNAT
Until Nov 1
Soma Surovi Jannat maps climate crisis through new Ashmolean works.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
One of the largest spaces for contemporary art in the world outside London, BALTIC occupies a converted flour mill overlooking the River Tyne. With no permanent collection, programming is exclusively temporary, bringing major international artists to the northeast of England. Since opening in 2002, it has established itself as one of the UK's most significant contemporary art institutions.
Saodat Ismailova: As We Fade
Until Jun 7
First UK solo show by the Central Asian filmmaker — world premiere of Swan Lake 2025
For All At Last Return
Until Jun 7
Immersive group show exploring ocean ecosystems, ecology, and marine life under threat
Milly Thompson: My Body Temperature is Feeling Good
Until Aug 30
Late painter Milly Thompson reclaims the female gaze through sun-drenched, irreverent canvases
Jupiter Artland
Set across 100 acres of countryside west of Edinburgh, Jupiter Artland is one of Scotland's most distinctive and internationally respected art destinations. The grounds are home to permanent, site-specific commissions by major artists including Antony Gormley, Cornelia Parker, Phyllida Barlow, and Charles Jencks, whose landform earthwork is a highlight. The collection has grown steadily since opening in 2009 and continues to expand.
National Museum Cardiff
Wales's foremost art and natural history museum, set in Cardiff's grand civic quarter. Holds one of Europe's finest Impressionist collections alongside Welsh art, archaeology, and natural world galleries.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scotland's national collection of modern and contemporary art, housed across two neoclassical buildings set in parkland in Edinburgh's west end. The collection of over 6,000 works spans the 20th and 21st centuries, with particular strengths in Surrealism, Dada, the Scottish Colourists, and post-war British art. The grounds include a landscape work by Charles Jencks and rotating outdoor sculpture.
ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois | Helen Chadwick | Robert Mapplethorpe
Until May 31
Bourgeois's giant Spider, Chadwick's light boxes and Mapplethorpe's self-portraits — three icons of modern art
Joan Eardley | The Nature of Painting
Until Jun 28
Eardley's expressive oils in dialogue with Constable, Monet and Tàpies — a fresh look at her wider world
The Hepworth Wakefield
Named after sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who was born in Wakefield, this David Chipperfield-designed gallery sits on the city's historic waterfront. Opened in 2011, it presents major international exhibitions alongside a permanent collection of modern British art featuring work by Hepworth herself, Henry Moore, and L.S. Lowry. One of the most architecturally distinguished galleries to open in the UK in recent decades.
Ending SoonPlaying with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto
Until May 4
Edmund de Waal curates the first major UK show of Danish ceramicist Axel Salto's organic stoneware
Ending SoonKira Freije: Unspeak the Chorus
Until May 4
Twenty life-size aluminium and steel figures arranged in emotionally charged groupings
Rhythm, Dance and Everything: The Body and Performance from Hepworth to Now
Until Mar 1, 2027
Hepworth's iconic sculptures in dialogue with contemporary artists exploring body, movement and identity
The Whitworth
Part of the University of Manchester and set in Whitworth Park, the Whitworth holds over 60,000 works and is one of the north of England's most respected art institutions. Historic strengths in textiles, wallpapers, works on paper, and Turner watercolours sit alongside a risk-taking contemporary program. The gallery underwent a major award-winning expansion in 2015, opening the building into the surrounding park.
Delaine Le Bas: Un-Fair-Ground
Until May 31
Turner Prize-nominated Romany artist's first Manchester solo — immersive feminist mixed-media world
"The Romany artist takes a mural she made for Glastonbury as a starting point, then builds a dizzying series of rooms exploring connection and exclusion"
— The Guardian
Michaela Yearwood-Dan
Until Oct 18
First UK institutional show — lush, queer, multi-sensory commission celebrating Blackness and healing
Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai and Hiroshige
Until Nov 15
Unmissable ukiyo-e prints including The Great Wave, still radically modern after 200 years
"There is not enough space (in this article, on the internet) to adequately describe the bands of colour that Hokusai gives to the skies through pine trees and plum gardens (one literal translation of mono no aware is “the ah!-ness of things”, which is perhaps as close as we can get)."
— The Guardian
Performing Trees
Until Apr 4, 2027
50+ works from the Whitworth collection reimagining trees as active storytellers across art history
Turner Contemporary
Built on the Margate seafront where J.M.W. Turner once lodged, Turner Contemporary has become one of the most visited galleries outside London since opening in 2011. The David Chipperfield-designed building stages major temporary exhibitions, drawing international artists and significant retrospectives to the Kent coast. The gallery has played a central role in Margate's cultural and economic regeneration over the past decade.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
One of the world's leading open-air sculpture venues, Yorkshire Sculpture Park occupies 500 acres of 18th-century parkland in West Yorkshire. Permanent and long-term commissions by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Andy Goldsworthy, and Ai Weiwei sit alongside ambitious temporary exhibitions and indoor gallery spaces. The landscape itself, with its rolling hills and historic estate buildings, is as integral to the experience as the art.
Louise Lockhart: Cake Crumbs and Lemonade
Until Aug 2
Folk-inspired collage and print celebrating the rituals of British everyday life
LR Vandy: Rise
Until Sep 13
Rope, maypoles and resistance — Vandy's first solo museum show explores trade and power
Nicola Turner: Time's Scythe
Until Sep 27
Wool and horsehair tendrils cascade through YSP's 18th-century Chapel
