The Top Exhibitions To See In London: November and December 2024

Last Updated 01 November 2024

The Top Exhibitions To See In London: November and December 2024

There are still plenty of excellent exhibitions to catch before 2024 clocks off. Here's what we're excited for.

1. Drawn to greatness: Drawing the Italian Renaissance at The King's Gallery

© Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024

Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian; there are no bigger names when it comes to the Italian Renaissance. The King's Gallery in Buckingham Palace has works by all four in its collection, and they feature as part of 160 works by over 80 artists in an exhibition on Italian drawing from 1450-1600. An added bonus: artists from the Royal Drawing School will be working in the galleries on set days, and if you feel inspired, you too can grab pencil and paper and get cracking on a masterpiece.

Drawing the Italian Renaissance at The Kings’ Gallery. 1 November 2024 - 9 March 2025, £19 for adults.

2. Double exposure: Anastasia Samoylova & As We Rise at Saatchi Gallery

© Anastasia Samoylova

When we first saw Anastasia Samoylova's photographs of flood zones back in 2022 we were blown away by the pastel colours contrasting with flood damage and the unnerving sight of an alligator rubbing against a window. Now, with Adaptation, we get the chance to see many more of Samoylova's works, showing how the climate crisis is affecting the world we've built. Alongside this, Saatchi Gallery hosts works by Black photographers which recognise the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability and diversity of Black life.

Anastasia Samoylova: Adaptation & As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic at Saatchi Gallery. 5 November 2024 - 20 January 2025, £12 for adults.

3. Cubism and more: Picasso - Printmaker at the British Museum

© Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024

The ever-inventive Pablo Picasso made over 2,400 prints in his career and the British Museum has a load in its collection. Here's a chance to view a selection, demonstrating how Picasso's art evolved over his career. It also charts his complex (or should that be abusive?) relationships with women and his partnerships with printers, publishers and other artists.

Picasso: Printmaker at The British Museum. 7 November 2024 - 30 March 2025, £9 for adults.

4. Renaissance Masters: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael at Royal Academy of Arts

A Raphael from the show. © Museum of Fine Art, Budapest.

Bringing together three of the greatest artists in art history, the Royal Academy of Arts' latest exhibition explores the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo and the influence both had on the young Raphael. It will  include some of finest examples of Italian Renaissance drawing, including Leonardo's Burlington House Cartoon and the studies by Leonardo and Michelangelo for their murals commissioned by the Florentine government for the newly constructed council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio. The Royal Academy's own sculpture by Michelangelo, the circular Taddei Tondo, naturally features too.

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael at Royal Academy of Arts. 9 November 2024 - 16 February 2025, £19-21 for adults.

5. Indian power: The Great Mughals at V&A

© Victoria & Albert Museum

At its height, the Mughal Empire was one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced societies in the world — more than enough material for the V&A's recounting of this golden age. The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence celebrates the craftsmanship and creativity of court workshops, and includes paintings, illustrated manuscripts, delicate textiles, brilliantly coloured carpets and fine objects made of mother of pearl, rock crystal, jade and precious metals. From the end of November the V&A also hosts the Jameel Prize, an international award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition, which never fails to include thought-provoking works.

The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence at V&A. 9 November 2024 – 5 May 2025, £22 for adults.
Jameel Prize: Moving Images at V&A. 30 November - 16 March, free

6. Islamic influence: William Morris & Art from the Islamic World at William Morris Gallery

© The Society of Antiquaries of London (Kelmscott Manor)

A principal founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris was responsible for producing hundreds of patterns for wallpapers, furnishing fabrics, carpets and embroideries, helping to introduce a new, organic aesthetic into British interiors. He was greatly influenced by Islamic design and this exhibition includes Islamic textiles, ceramics, metalwork and manuscripts from Morris's personal collection.

William Morris & Art from the Islamic World at William Morris Gallery. 9 November 2024 - 9 March 2025, free.

7. Staying alive: Vital Signs at Science Gallery

Thermal imaging on London. Image credit Fado Fado for Science Gallery.

What do you consider to be vital to your survival? The air you breathe? The water you drink? The earth that feeds you? Across 11 multimedia installations and research collaborations, Vital Signs makes the case for a just and rooted transition which puts the concerns and voices of communities at its heart. From the Pacific Islanders fighting deep sea mining, Londoners demanding the right to cleaner air, the resilience of the global deaf community, to the Nuosu people of South-West China balancing the green energy transition with their deep connection to the land.

Vital Signs: Another world is possible at Science Gallery. 13 November 2024 - 17 May 2025, free.

8: Powerful portraits: Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize at National Portrait Gallery

Copyright Tjitske Sluis

The anticipated annual photography exhibition returns with 62 portraits by 55 photographers. The shortlisted four include Adam Ferguson's look at the impact of colonialism and climate change on the Australian outback; and Jesse Navarre Vos, Tjitske Sluis and Steph Wilson's profiles of motherhood from both a personal standpoint — and looking into what motherhood is and can be.  

Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024 at National Portrait Gallery. 14 November 2024 – 16 February 2025, £8.50 for adults.

9. Sculpting selves: Self-Made at The Foundling Museum

Image courtesy Renee So and Kate MacGarry. Photo: Angus Mill

Four artists working with ceramics combine to show how sculpture can touch on class, gender, sexuality, cultural heritage and historical legacies. Each piece is moulded, cast and inscribed to remind us that the creation of self-identity can be a challenging, yet profoundly empowering, process. It also ties into the history of identity, care and belonging that's at the heart of the Foundling Museum.

Self-Made: Reshaping Identities at the Foundling Museum. 15 November 2024 – 1 June 2025, £12.75 for adults.

10. Late paintings: Leighton and Landscape at Leighton House Museum

© The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC). Image: Jaron James

Frederic, Lord Leighton is known for his paintings of historical and Biblical events, but not so much for his landscapes — even though he spent a large portion of his later life (some 40 years) painting them. Leighton scarcely exhibited the landscapes, but now here's a chance to see some. The artist generally avoided famous landmarks, instead honing in on a particular backstreet, hill, rock, or tree that had caught his attention. This is Leighton at his most experimental.

Leighton and Landscape at Leighton House Museum. 16 November 2024 - 27 January 2025, £14 for adults.

11. Tirzah Garwood at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Image courtesy of Fleece Press

Ever heard of Tirzah Garwood? She was the wife of British painter Eric Ravilious and like a lot of female artists with an artistic husband, has been largely overshadowed in history. Here's a chance to appreciate more than 80 of Garwood's works, including most of her existing oil paintings. The exhibition introduces an artist whose creativity flourished in the face of adversity, having to persevere after the death of Ravilious as he served as a war artist, and in the same year that she had an emergency mastectomy. The exhibition includes Garwood's tender pencil sketches also created during this period, which depict her children, as well as some of Ravilious' works — highlighting similarities between the two styles.

Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery. 19 November 2024 - 26 May 2025, £20 for adults.

12. We'll always be together: Electric Dreams at Tate Modern

Courtesy Suzanne Treister, Annely Juda Fine Art, London and P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York

We're surrounded by modern technology that we take for granted but Tate Modern is taking us back to when artists were working with early computers, celebrating the pioneers of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art. Electric Dreams brings together an international network of more than 70 artists working between the 1950s and the dawn of the internet age — often reclaiming these machines from the military and corporate interests that drove their evolution. Featuring over 150 works, it's a chance to see vintage art on vintage tech — from psychedelic installations to early experiments made with home computers and video synthesisers.

Electric Dreams: Art and Technology before the Internet at Tate Modern. 28 November 2024 - 1 June 2025, £22 for adults.

13. Vive le France: Versailles - Science and Splendour at Science Museum

A Clock of the Creation of the World. © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais © Thierry Ollivier

Not just a mirrored palace, Versailles was also a hotbed of scientific innovation. Science Museum shines a light on how scientific knowledge became widespread, fashionable, and a tool of power to enhance France’s prestige. Dozens of important (and blinging) scientific objects and artworks including Louis XV's model rhinoceros. It's also a chance to appreciate the contribution of women to physics, medicine and botany in 18th century France.

Versailles: Science and Splendour at Science Museum. 12 December 2024 - 21 April 2025, £12.

Short-run exhibitions and art fairs

Copyright Morag Caister - one of the shortlisted artists for the Cass Art Prize

Hulking metal sculptures, tender portraits and paintings of explosions are all part of the impressive shortlist for the Cass Art Prize this year. The shortlisted and longlisted artists are on display at Copeland Gallery in Peckham.(8-16 November 2024, free). The ING Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries* (15-24 November, free) is always a treat as hundreds of works are small in scale and lots of bargains may be found, from this year's six selectors who all get a wall each.

Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (21-24 November 2024, £15 for adults) is back. We always love the mix of galleries and artists who have submitted work to a fair specialising in prints — both one-off and limited edition. It's a remarkably affordable fair; we've seen many bargains at previous editions, including works under £100.

A previous edition of Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Photo Lucy J Toms.

See where the artistic magic happens, at Wimbledon, where two studios across from one another open their doors, inviting you to chat to the artists and buy directly from them. Wimbledon Art Fair (14-17 November 2024, free) and the (not so) Secret Studio Show at Delta House Studios (22-24 November 2024, free) make south-west London the place to be two weekends on the trot.

* The author of this piece is a trustee of Discerning Eye