The arrival of spring means that there are loads of fabulous new art exhibitions on the horizon in London, with major shows on the likes of Francisco de Zurbarán, Henry Moore and James McNeil Whistler joining excellent recent openings including Hurvin Anderson at Tate Britain, Michaelina Wautier at the Royal Academy and Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A. But before all the shiny new openings, we must wave goodbye to the old ones.
Some excellent exhibitions are set to close this weekend, and there’s a good chance you’ve been too busy scoffing Easter eggs, frolicking among the spring flowers and generally making the most of the first rays of sunlight we’ve seen this year to spend your weekends gallivanting around the capital’s art galleries. But you’ve not got long left to see some of the winter season’s best openings. Here’s what to catch this weekend, just in the nick of time.
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Four amazing London art exhibitions closing in April 2026
Turner & Constable: Rivals and Originals at Tate Britain
The greatest of rivals – and two of Britain’s greatest painters – JMW Turner and John Constable are placed side by side in this starry exhibition. Although both had different paths to success, they each became recognised as stars of the art world and shared a connection to nature and recreating it in their landscape paintings. Explore the pair’s intertwined lives and legacies and get new insight into their creativity via sketchbooks, personal items and must-see artworks. Advance tickets for the weekend are currently sold out, but there are still several ways you can see it. Join the waiting list for returns, book a ticket for Friday’s Exhibition Talk, which includes access to the show, or invest in a Tate membership to visit any time.
Tate Britain. Closes Sunday April 12. £24 or free for members (£39 for the Exhibition Talk on Friday 10 April).
New Contemporaries at South London Gallery
An annual showcase of the UK’s finest emerging artists, New Contemporaries is this year staged at the South London Gallery. It featuring 26 artists working in a multitude of different disciplines, with work tackling such varied themes as dystopian futures, the climate crisis, industrialisation, gentrification, displacement, critical approaches to systems of power, digital technologies, mourning, remembrance, and loss. What this exhibition (predictably) lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in the raw talent and ambition evident in each of these nascent artists’ work. The fact that it’s housed in what, despite its deep history, is one of London’s most underrated art spaces is a further incentive to pay it a visit.
South London Gallery. Closes Sunday April 12. Free.
Theatre Picasso at Tate Modern
Picasso exhibitions might be ten a penny in London these days, but this one really stands out. Celebrating the centenary of one of the Spanish artist’s most iconic artworks, The Three Dancers, this exhibition explores Picasso’s fascination with performers – including dancers, bullfighters, musicians, acrobats and other entertainers – via more than 45 works ranging from paintings and sculpture to textile and works on paper, some of which are being exhibited in the UK for the first time. Visitors hoping to delve a little deeper can book onto a last-chance Picasso and Dinner event, where they’ll get a chance to hear paper conservator Charity Fox discussing the artist’s papier collé techniques before ending the evening with a French bistro-style dinner at the gallery’s L6 Restaurant.
Tate Modern. Closes Sunday April 12. £15 or free for members (£72.50 for Picasso and Dinner experience).
Hyundai Commission: Máret Ánne Sara at Tate Modern
Every year, Tate Modern teams up with car manufacturer Hyundai for the prestigious Hyundai Commission, allowing one leading international artist to create a brand new, large-scale work for exhibition in the gallery’s cavernous Turbine Hall. This time round, the commission has been awarded to Sámi-Norwegian artist Máret Ánne Sara, who honours the reciprocal relationship between the indigenous Nordic people and the land and reindeer that they farm with Goavve-Geabbil, a maze-like piece of land art incorporating reindeer hides and skulls, electrical elements, LED lights and wooden fences. Pay a visit to the gallery any time until the weekend to check it out for yourself.
Tate Modern. Closes Sunday April 12. Free.
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