The Best London Shows This Weekend

The best art exhibitions open in London this Saturday and Sunday, ranked by aggregated critic reviews from major publications. Updated Sep 3.

Showing 12 exhibitions

#1

The Bayeux Tapestry
British Museum

The Bayeux Tapestry

Until Jul 11, 2027

Textiles

The 70-metre embroidery of 1066, in England for the first time in 1,000 years

5/5 from 4 ratings

"It is magnificent. Shivers-down-the-spine, tell-the-grandchildren sort of stuff."

The Times

#2

Henry Moore: Monumental Nature
Kew Gardens

Henry Moore: Monumental Nature

Until Jan 31, 2027

SculptureDrawing & Works on PaperAbstract ExpressionismHenry Moore

30 monumental sculptures by Moore spanning his 70-year career

5/5 from 2 ratings · 4 reviews total

"In parts of the show, Moore's love of natural forms seems to run counter to the Victorian splendour of Kew. One of his bone-like pieces, Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae (1968-69), sits in front of the Palm House. Moore's irregular, undulating tripartite form seems to echo – or mock – the pane-glass and wrought-iron symmetry of the older building."

The Telegraph

#3

Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai
Japan House London

Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai

Until Oct 18

FreePhotographyContemporary Art

Two generations of Japanese photography, from postwar history to diaspora life

5/5 from 1 rating

"These were revolutionary photographs at the time – and they still feel new in their search to express the inexpressible. The dimly lit, subterranean gallery keeps you cocooned in this elegiac, brooding atmosphere. Kawada is drawn to images that trace the extremities of the Earth, the visible outer edges of our existence – the sky, the horizon, water, burning suns and scorching fires."

The Guardian

#4

James McNeill Whistler
Tate Britain

James McNeill Whistler

Until Sep 27

PaintingPrintsImpressionismJames McNeill Whistler

First major European Whistler retrospective in 30 years at Tate Britain

4.8/5 from 4 ratings

"Then, in 1865, Whistler suddenly paints the sea as if it was a piece of silk decorated with white lace and a ribbon. Green and Grey, Channel is a stunning declaration of artistic independence. He takes the sea, the element humans can't control, the roaring theme of Turner's visions, and makes it a painterly plaything."

The Guardian

#5

Ana Mendieta
Tate Modern

Ana Mendieta

Until Jan 17, 2027

PhotographyVideo & Moving ImagePerformanceConceptualismAna Mendieta

Major Mendieta retrospective with remastered films and UK premieres at Tate Modern

4.3/5 from 6 ratings · 8 reviews total

"With its evocation of woman as nature, the work reinforces the woman-nature/man-culture dichotomy"

The Arts Desk

#6

Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography
Dulwich Picture Gallery

Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography

Until Oct 4

Photography

A century of American urban life through 34 photographers, from Stieglitz and Lange to Arbus and Davidson.

4.3/5 from 3 ratings

"Ultimately, there's a slightly overwhelming quality to this exhibition: the walls are covered in potted biographies, in who's who of US photography, many of them represented by just one or two images. It's telling so many stories at once. But that means that everyone who visits will find something to delight in, as they pull out faces from a crowd of varied, jostling, unsettling perspectives on American life."

TimeOut

#7

Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam
Royal Academy

Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam

Until Oct 25

PaintingDrawing & Works on Paper

Dadd's intricate Victorian fairy paintings made during 42 years in Bethlem and Broadmoor

4.2/5 from 6 ratings · 7 reviews total

"Famously he was a painter of fairies, yet he was far from being away with the fairies"

The Arts Desk

#8

Anish Kapoor
Hayward Gallery

Anish Kapoor

Until Oct 18

SculptureInstallationContemporary ArtAnish Kapoor

Kapoor fills the Hayward Gallery with mirror sculptures, Vantablack works and three new monumental installations

4/5 from 6 ratings

"In an era when art often seems content with small, dry efforts, Kapoor soaks the Hayward in the blood and guts of his unfettered imagination."

The Guardian

Tied #9

Paint! Pattern! Print! The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah CampbellEnds in 3 days
Fashion and Textile Museum

Paint! Pattern! Print! The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell

Until Sep 13

TextilesDesign

Fifty years of Collier Campbell's pioneering painterly textile design

4/5 from 1 rating

"Less enthusiastic visitors might not care so much about the significance of using Chinon silk versus Mercury satin. However, Paint! Pattern! Print! is undoubtedly a feast for the eyes, with explosions of colour at every turn. Appreciators of technicolour painting, fashion and good design will find plenty to enjoy here."

TimeOut

Tied #9

Constable in HampsteadEnds in 10 days
Burgh House

Constable in Hampstead

Until Sep 20

PaintingPrintsRomanticismJohn Constable

Constable's Hampstead years explored through paintings, prints and letters

4/5 from 1 rating

"Others (like me) may be put off by his somewhat patrician perspective: a landowner surveying a plot in which everyone is busy at work, driving cows or ploughing fields. This small show at Hampstead's Burgh House offers something like an olive branch to Constable haters."

The Guardian

Tied #9

Benton End: A Paradise of Pollen and PaintEnds in 10 days
Garden Museum

Benton End: A Paradise of Pollen and Paint

Until Sep 20

PaintingPhotographyDrawing & Works on PaperPost-Impressionism

Paintings, photos and objects from Cedric Morris's radical 1950s Suffolk art school

4/5 from 1 rating

"As an exhibition, it's a leaf through a scrapbook rather than a comprehensive survey. Summers run together, the days seem long and hazy, the irises are always in bloom. I left this evocative and convivial show craving ratatouille, resolving to plant irises and level the earth at the back of the garden for a greenhouse of my own."

The Times

Tied #9

Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation
Hayward Gallery

Musquiqui Chihying: A Life of Navigation

Until Oct 18

FreeVideo & Moving ImageInstallationContemporary Art

Four works of humour and critique on urban life and technology

4/5 from 1 rating

"Across the four works, Chihying's humour keeps some pretty knotty ideas about labour, consumerism and technology from getting bogged down in theory. However, it is a small show. Some would say too small."

TimeOut

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