Art exhibitions opening in London in April 2025
April will see a great mix of art exhibitions opening in London, from historic masterpieces to contemporary and experimental works. The V&A’s Cartier exhibition will showcase decades of craftsmanship, while the National Gallery presents the rare Carracci Cartoons. Contemporary highlights include Ed Atkins’ digital explorations at Tate Britain, Antony Gormley’s pioneering lead sculptures at White Cube, and Giuseppe Penone’s nature-inspired works at the Serpentine, while retrospectives on Richard Hunt and Eileen Perrier offer fresh perspectives on sculpture and photography. Below is our guide to art exhibitions to watch out for in the city in April.
Cartier Exhibition
Tiara, Cartier London, 1937. Aquamarine, diamonds and platinum. Vincent Wulveryck, © Collection Cartier.
#FLODown: The V&A will present its first major Cartier exhibition in nearly 30 years, featuring over 350 iconic pieces, including historic jewels worn by notable figures like Queen Elizabeth II and Rihanna. The exhibition will explore Cartier’s legacy of craftsmanship, creativity, and cultural influence, with highlights such as the Williamson Diamond brooch, panther designs, and the 1967 Crash wristwatch. Curated by Helen Molesworth and Rachel Garrahan, the exhibit will offer unique insight into the brand’s impact on design and fashion.
Date: 12 April 2025 – 16 November 2025. Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL. Price: Weekday £27 / Weekend £29. Concessions available.Book now.
Giuseppe Penone: Thoughts in the Roots
Giuseppe Penone, Respirare l’ombra (To Breathe the Shadow), 1999. Wire mesh, laurel leaves, bronze. Total dimension determined by the space. Installation view Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. Photo © Archivio Penone.
#FLODown: A major retrospective of Giuseppe Penone will open at Serpentine South Gallery, showcasing works from 1977 to the present. A leading figure in the Arte Povera movement, Penone uses materials such as wood, bronze, and wax to explore the deep connection between humanity and nature. Set against the backdrop of Kensington Gardens, the exhibition highlights nature’s vitality and influence in art.
Date: 3 April - 7 September 2025. Location: Serpentine South Gallery, London W2 3XA. Price: Free. serpentinegalleries.org.
Click here for more art exhibitions to watch out for at the Serpentine Galleries in 2025.
Antony Gormley
WITNESS: Early Lead Works
Antony Gormley WITNESS II, 1993
#FLODown: White Cube will open an exhibition by Antony Gormley at their Mason’s Yard location. The exhibition, WITNESS, will feature Gormley’s early lead sculptures, created from the mid-1970s to the 1990s, which are among the most important of his career. Using lead, a material symbolising both protection and toxicity, these sculptures highlight Gormley’s breakthroughs in visual language and the complexities of human existence. The works demonstrate how his early experiments with lead laid the foundations for his later pieces.
Date: 23 April – 8 June 2025. Location: White Cube Mason’s Yard, 25 - 26 Mason’s Yard, London, SW1Y 6BU. Price: Free. whitecube.com.
Nolan Oswald Dennis: throwers
Nolan Oswald Dennis, garden for fanon, 2021. Bioactive system, books, glass globes, microcontroller, steel armature. Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery.
#FLODown: Nolan Oswald Dennis’ first UK solo exhibition will open at Gasworks, showcasing his exploration of the politics of space and time through a system-specific approach. The exhibition will feature new and existing works that examine the relationships between geology and cosmology, along with a new iteration of the Black Earth Study Club, developed in collaboration with local artists, writers, and researchers.
Date: 24 April - 22 June 2025. Location: Gasworks 155 Vauxhall Street London SE11 5RH. Price: Free. gasworksw.org.uk.
Richard Wright
Richard Wright, No Title, 2017-19, Watercolour on paper. Courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow. Image credit: Rob McKeever.
#FLODown: Richard Wright’s first solo institutional exhibition in London in over 20 years will open at Camden Art Centre, showcasing his renowned site-specific wall and ceiling paintings alongside works in glass, on paper, and three-dimensional objects. Wright’s new monumental painting will respond to the gallery’s architecture, while intricate leaded glass installations will cast shifting light patterns. The exhibition also features over 50 works on paper from his 30-year career, including gold leaf pieces from his Turner Prize-winning work at Tate Britain in 2009.
Date: 16 April - 22 June 2025. Location: Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Rd, London NW3 6DG. Price: Free. camdenartcentre.org.
The Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making
Agostino Carracci. Cephalus carried off by Aurora in her Chariot about 1599. © The National Gallery, London.
#FLODown: The National Gallery’s exhibition The Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making explores two monumental preparatory drawings created by Annibale and Agostino Carracci for the Farnese Palace in Rome. These large charcoal works, designed for the palace’s grand fresco, reveal the brothers’ creative process and artistic influences, from antique sculptures to Michelangelo and Raphael. Featuring mythical sea creatures, gods, and dramatic waves, the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the making of a Renaissance masterpiece and the techniques behind it.
Date: 10 April – 6 July 2025. Location: National Gallery , Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Price: Free. nationalgallery.org.uk.
Richard Hunt
Metamorphosis: A Retrospective
Richard Hunt, Reaching Up, 2022 © 2025 The Richard Hunt Trust / ARS, NY and DACS. London. Photo © White Cube (Frankie Tyska).
#FLODown: The first London retrospective of Richard Hunt (1935–2023), one of America’s leading sculptors, will open at White Cube Bermondsey. Spanning a seven-decade career, Hunt created over 160 large-scale public sculptures worldwide and held more than 170 solo exhibitions. In 1971, he became the first African American sculptor to receive a retrospective at New York’s MoMA. Known for his work in metal, Hunt’s sculptures blend the natural with the industrial, the surreal with the abstract, and the geometric with the organic. His career included tributes to American heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Owens, and in 2022, he was commissioned by Barack Obama for a piece for the Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago.
Date: 25 April – 29 June 2025. Location: White Cube Bermondsey, 144 – 152 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TQ. Price: Free. whitecube.com.
Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories
Eileen Perrier, From the Series Red, Gold and Green, 1997. Credit: © Eileen Perrier. Autograph, London.
#FLODown: A retrospective of Eileen Perrier’s photographic portraiture will open at Autograph, focusing on identity, kinship, and belonging. Influenced by European and African studio traditions, her work captures personal and cultural connections. The exhibition includes her iconic portraits from the late 1990s and early 2000s, Afro Hair and Beauty Show, which explores Black hair as a symbol of pride, and Red, Gold and Green (1997), featuring portraits of British Ghanaians in their homes. Perrier’s work preserves cultural heritage and shared histories.
Date: 17 April - 13 September 2025. Location: Autograph, 1 Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. autograph.org.uk.
Ed Atkins
Ed Atkins, Olde Food, 2017 – 18 © Ed Atkins.
#FLODown: Tate Britain will present the first UK survey exhibition of Ed Atkins, one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. Known for his computer-generated videos and animations, Atkins explores the intersection of digital technology and human emotion, often combining cinema, video games, literature, and music. The exhibition will showcase works from the past 15 years, including videos, writings, drawings, and paintings. It will also feature his performances, self-portraiture, a new film about loss, and playful Post-It note drawings created for his children.
Date: 2 April - 25 August 2025. Location: Tate Britain is Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG. Price: £18 / Free for Members. Concessions available.Book now.
You Make Me Feel
Zein Majali, Propane, 2024 © The Artist.
#FLODown: You Make Me Feel, curated by A—Z (Anne Duffau), will be presented at Southwark Park Galleries, featuring the work of multidisciplinary artists Jeanie Crystal, Zein Majali, and Emily Pope. Part of the 23rd PAF Olomouc – Festival of Film Animation and Contemporary Art 2024, this exhibition is the second iteration of a show originally displayed at XY Gallery in the Czech Republic. Focusing on diaries, self-narratives, and emotional expression through various mediums, it reflects on personal stories, self-reflection, and the impact of social media.
Date: 5 April - 29 June 2025. Location: Southwark Park Galleries // Lake Gallery 1 Park Approach Southwark Park London SE16 2UA. Price: Free. southwarkparkgalleries.org.
Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond
Dianne Minnicucci’s new series Belonging and Beyond to open at Autograph.
#FLODown: Dianne Minnicucci’s new series Belonging and Beyond explores vulnerability and discomfort in front of the camera as acts of self-discovery and collaboration. Set in Abbey Wood, South London, her poetic black-and-white portraits of herself and her young son focus on subtle body language shifts and the unease of being photographed. The series highlights Minnicucci’s roles as an artist, mother, and teacher, and reflects her approach to photography as a collaborative, shared process.
Date: 17 April - 13 September 2025. Location: Autograph, 1 Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. autograph.org.uk.
In House: Ree Bradley and Pete Gomes
Ree Bradley, The Mind is a Group Muscle, 2025. Film still. Courtesy of the artist.
#FLODown: In House: Ree Bradley and Pete Gomes is the fourth in a series of duo exhibitions at Studio Voltaire, exploring how experiential states can be translated through sound, film, and image. Ree Bradley’s The Mind is a Group Muscle investigates body-based therapies and masculinity through group workshops, capturing unconscious states via 16mm footage and therapeutic drawings. Pete Gomes’ Does the river listen to the trees? translates his experience at The Grand Gathering into improvised image sequences, using analogue photography to explore relational dynamics and psychological states. Together, their works examine improvisation, somatic practice, and collective experience as tools for artistic and personal inquiry.
Date: 2 April – 25 May 2025. Location: Studio Voltaire, 1A Nelsons Row, London SW4 7JR. Price: Free. studiovoltaire.org.
Click here to discover more art exhibitions in London in 2025.
