It's the perfect time to see art while the sun shines at the many exhibitions taking place at our museum and gallery partners across the country. Find the highlight of your summer holidays with the Bloomsbury Group in Belfast or enjoy a getaway to see Robert Indiana at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park among our pick of inspirational shows happening near you.

Featured regions:

Channel Islands

England

England: London

England: Midlands and East

England: North

England: South

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales

 

Channel Islands

Guernsey

The People's Collection | Guernsey Museum

From 1st August until 12th October 2022

Discover the personalities, places, and events that have shaped the island through the art collections cared for by Guernsey Museums & Galleries.

  

England: London

Freedom and Change

Freedom and Change 1984

Lubaina Himid (b.1954)

Tate

Lubaina Himid | Tate Modern

Until 2nd October 2022

Recent work and selected career highlights are among a theatrically inspired exhibition, taking visitors through scenes by the artist known for her innovative approaches to painting and social engagement.

 

Surrealism Beyond Borders | Tate Modern

Until 29th August 2022

Unconscious desires and dreams come to life in an exhibition that shows how artists around the world have been inspired and united by surrealism.

 

Cornelia Parker | Tate Britain

Until 16th October 2022

See the mesmerising installations, films, and a wealth of drawings, prints and photographs that have defined the work of one of Britain's best-loved and most acclaimed contemporary artists.

 

Walter Sickert | Tate Britain

Until 18th September 2022

The first major retrospective of Sickert at Tate in over 60 years, this exhibition showcases how the former actor brought an often radical, distinctive approach to the stage of British art.

Madame Moitessier

Madame Moitessier 1856

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)

The National Gallery, London

Picasso Ingres: Face to Face | The National Gallery

Until 9th October 2022

Picasso's 'Woman with a Book' is brought together with the painting that inspired it 'Madame Moitessier' by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, in a conversation tracing artistic development between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

 

Winslow Homer: Force of Nature | The National Gallery

From 10th September 2022 to 8th January 2023

The first UK overview of the great American Realist painter who confronted issues facing the United States during the nineteenth century, and its relationship with both Europe and the Caribbean world.

 

Milton Avery: American Colourist | Royal Academy of Arts

From 15th July to 16th October 2022

A vision of the world through harmonious colour and simplified forms from one of North America's greatest twentieth-century colourists, and an inspiration to artists such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

 

Herzog & de Meuron | Royal Academy of Arts

From 14th July to 15th October 2023

See the inner workings of this cutting-edge Swiss architectural practice, responsible for projects such the Tate Modern, Beijing's Bird's Nest National Stadium and 1111 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

 

Reframed: The Woman in the Window | Dulwich Picture Gallery

Until 4th September 2022

An enigmatic artistic motif is explored in exhibition, bringing together over 50 works by artists including Rembrandt, David Hockney, Louise Bourgeois, and Cindy Sherman.

 

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear | Victoria and Albert Museum

Until 6th November 2022

Unpicking the power, artistry and diversity of masculine attire and appearance, with contemporary looks from legendary designers posed alongside historical treasures.

 

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature | Victoria and Albert Museum

Until 8th January 2023

Enjoy a celebration of Potter's life as a scientist and conservationist, which explores the places and animals that inspired her most beloved characters.

 

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine | William Morris Gallery

Until 11th September 2022

A landmark retrospective of one of the UK's most innovative textile artists, whose painterly designs in a riotous colour palette incorporated natural botanical forms from Britain and the Caribbean.

 

Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 years in comics | The Foundling Museum

Until 28th August 2022

The world's first major exhibition on the representation of foundlings, orphans, adoptees, and foster children in comics, graphic novels and sequential art from around the globe.

 

Gold | British Library

Until 2nd October 2022

A glimpse of all that glitters, with 50 manuscripts illustrating how gold elevated art on the pages of everything from Qur'ans to gospels from the age of Charlemagne.

Finches and Flowers

Finches and Flowers c.1895

Valerie Aline Colombo-Billotey (1860–1935)

The Fan Museum

A Bouquet of Fans | The Fan Museum

Until 20th August 2022

A spectacular arrangement of more than 80 flower-themed fans, spanning the centuries dating back to the late sixteenth century.

 

Cancer Revolution: Science, innovation and hope | Science Museum

Until January 2023

Numerous personal accounts and objects bring to life the stories of people affected by cancer, together with those who study and treat it.

 

Rooted Beings | Wellcome Collection

Until 29th August 2022

Attain vegetal enlightenment through the botanical archives of the Wellcome Collection and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, displayed alongside works by artists such as Gözde İlkin, Ingela Ihrman.

 

England: Midlands and East

Birmingham

SaVĀge K'Lub presents Vā TAMATEA: The inaugural Birmingham SaVĀge K'Lubroom | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Until 30th October 2022

Aotearoa/New Zealand artists Rosanna Raymond and Jaimie Waititi present the SaVĀge K'lubroom, reclaiming the gentlemen's clubs of the same name, and bringing together Birmingham's Pacific collection with contemporary works.

 

Unprecedented Times | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Until 30th October 2022

Take a moment to pause and reflect on the last two years of living with Covid-19, through historic works from Birmingham's collection alongside loans and new acquisitions from Birmingham-based artists.

 

To Have and to Hold: Portrait Miniature Jewellery | The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Until 18th September 2022

A display of intricate bejewelled portraits that fit in the palm of a hand, created across Europe for over 350 years as tender tokens of loyalty, friendship or love.

 

HERE&QUEER | The New Art Gallery Walsall

Until September 2022

Members of the LGBTQ+ community take ownership of the collections and the stories they tell, re-interpreting works from a queer perspective, and increasing the visibility of queer lives.

 

West Midlands Open | The New Art Gallery Walsall

Until 25th September 2022

An opportunity to celebrate the quality and diversity of the visual arts in the region, with works on display from almost 200 artists.


Double Study for 'A Closer Grand Canyon'

Double Study for 'A Closer Grand Canyon' 1998

David Hockney (b.1937)

Royal Academy of Arts

Cambridge

Hockney's Eye | The Fitzwilliam Museum

Until 29th August 2022

Explore Hockney's obsession with how we see the world, with drawings, paintings and digital pieces shown in a series of encounters with works by artists including Claude Monet and Andy Warhol.

 

True to Nature: Open-air Painting in Europe 1780-1870 | The Fitzwilliam Museum

Until 29th August 2022

The inventive ways artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries recorded fleeting moments in nature are brought to light through more than 100 oil sketches from the likes of J. M. W. Turner and Edgar Degas.

 

Essex

Alfred Munnings: the Art of the Poster | The Munnings Art Museum

Until 23rd October 2022

This exhibition focuses on the early influences of Munnings and his ability to capture the popular aesthetic of La Belle Epoque while designing advertisements for clients such as Colman's Mustard and Caley's Crackers.

 

Norwich

The World We Live In: Art and the Urban Environment | Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

Until 4th September 2022

A view of inner-city life across the UK and the sights and sounds of the urban environment that have inspired various artists between 1950 and 2020.

 

England: North

Liverpool

Kunichika: Japanese Prints | Walker Art Gallery

Until 4th September 2022

Presenting more than 60 prints from one of the most important nineteenth-century printmakers in Japan, who was best known for his depictions of the Kabuki theatre.

Sir Henry Unton

Sir Henry Unton c.1596

unknown artist

National Portrait Gallery, London

The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics | Walker Art Gallery

Until 29th August 2022

Five Tudor monarchs and many iconic figures from the period are put in the spotlight in this exhibition that tells new stories about one of the most dramatic times of British history.

 

Manchester

British Art Show 9 | The Whitworth

Until 4th September 2022

This exhibition showcases 19 artists across the city, including three at the Whitworth, with Anne Hardy, Andy Holden and Katie Schwab offering up immersive large-scale installation, film, wall paintings and tile work.

 

Fayre Share Fayre | The Whitworth

Until 4th September 2022

Over 40 artists with a connection to Greater Manchester come together around the theme of hospitality, born out of the conversations around legacy, agency and locality.

 

Suzanne Lacy: Uncertain Futures and Cleaning Conditions | Manchester Art Gallery

Until 31st December 2022

A pioneer of performance and socially engaged art, Lacy made her projects 'Cleaning Conditions' and 'Uncertain Futures' with Mancunians, responding to questions about labour, gender, class and migration status.

 

Sheffield

Brought to Light: The Remarkable Bateman Collection | Weston Park

Until 15th January 2023

See treasures from around the globe and the fruits of extensive excavations in the Peak District by Thomas Bateman, a pioneering Victorian antiquarian ahead of his time.

 

Wakefield

Robert Indiana: Sculpture 1958–2018 | Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Until 8th January 2023

The first major UK exhibition of sculpture, painting and prints by the American artist, famed for his 'LOVE' series of works and advocacy for many human rights issues.

 

Jordan McKenzie: Shame Chorus | Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Until 22nd September 2022

Beginning with a desire to draw attention to high rates of depression and suicide in the LGBTQIA+ community, McKenzie gives voice to individual stories about coming out and sets very personal narratives to music.

 

York

The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony | York Art Gallery

Until April 2023

Explore the remarkable collection of W. A. Ismay, the UK's most prolific collector of post-war British studio pottery, with objects from potters such as Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, and Bernard Leach.

 

England: South

The Coral Necklace

The Coral Necklace 1914

Harold Gilman (1876–1919)

Brighton & Hove Museums

Brighton

Down from London: Spencer Gore & Friends | Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

Until 11th September 2022

A colourful display revisits the influential work of the Camden Town Group, whose bold styles and colour transformed English painting in the early twentieth century.

 

The Jam: Cover Stars | Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

Until 2nd October 2022

Follow the course of The Jam's amazing career through original and iconic magazine and music press covers from around the world.

 

Bristol

Grayson's Art Club | Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Until 4th September 2022

A vibrant and poignant chronicle of lockdown, with artworks made by the public, established artists, and celebrities during season two of the hit TV series, Grayson's Art Club.


Henry Thomas

Henry Thomas 1934–1935

Glyn Warren Philpot (1884–1937)

Pallant House Gallery

Chichester

Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit | Pallant House Gallery

Until 23rd October 2022

Over 80 paintings, drawings and sculptures take visitors on Philpot's journey from Edwardian society portraits to a radically modernist style in the 1930s.

 

New Works: Cultivating the Collection | Pallant House Gallery

Until 16th October

An exciting selection of recently acquired works from contemporary artists, including drawings by Shirazeh Houshiary and Tony Cragg, prints by Lubaina Himid and Joe Tilson, and sculptures by Helaine Blumenfeld and Eilis O'Connell.

The Dustbin, Cookham

The Dustbin, Cookham 1956

Stanley Spencer (1891–1959)

Royal Academy of Arts

Cookham

Delight in Nature: Stanley Spencer's World | Stanley Spencer Gallery

Until 30th October 2022

See how the natural world and the everyday were unified with Spencer's spiritual vision and the way nature informed and became a part of his figurative work.

 

Cornwall

Ad Minoliti: Biosfera Peluche / Biosphere Plush | Tate St Ives

Until 30th October 2022

Drawing on the rich legacy of geometric abstraction in Latin America, Ad Minoliti presents visitors with alternative universes influenced by feminist and queer thought.

 

Eastbourne

A Life in Art & Reuniting the Twenties Group | Towner Eastbourne

Until 25th September 2022

Two exhibitions presented simultaneously showcasing gallerist Lucy Wertheim's vast contribution to mid-twentieth century modern art, featuring works by Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, and Frances Hodgkins.

 

Oxford

Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours | Ashmolean Museum

Until 27th November 2022

Revealing the enormous range of techniques and media used by the artists that made up this movement, as well as their intimate and often complex friendships and love affairs.

 

Southampton

Kurt Jackson – Biodiversity | Southampton City Art Gallery

Until 29th October 2022

Paintings, found objects and sculptures by Jackson focus on the vital interdependence of the lifeforms and landscapes which make up our environment.

 

Lisa Traxler – Time Traveller | Southampton City Art Gallery

Until 8th October 2022

History and architecture collide in this exhibition to create an immersive landscape within the gallery setting with dazzle artworks and a new series of sculptures.

 

Northern Ireland

Belfast

Against The Image: Photography. Media. Manipulation. | Ulster Museum

Until 30th October 2022

An exhibition putting the focus on the authority of the photograph in our era of mass media and mass (mis)information.

Interior

Interior 1918

Duncan Grant (1885–1978)

National Museums NI

Bloomsbury: A Collective | Ulster Museum

Until 16th October 2022

An introduction to the art, literature and ideas generated by this group of artistic and intellectual friends that would have an enormous influence on the rest of the twentieth century.

 

I Know I've Been a Stranger Lately | Naughton Gallery at Queen's University Belfast

Until 14th August 2022

Explore physical and mental health through the lens of comics and illustration, with some of the most exciting cartoonists and illustrators working today, from Ireland, Australia to Sweden and the USA.

A Winter Sequence – Roughra 2

A Winter Sequence – Roughra 2 1976

Terence Philip Flanagan (1929–2011)

Fermanagh County Museum

Enniskillen

T. P. Flanagan Collection Exhibition | Fermanagh County Museum

Until 18th September 2022

Find out how the lake-lands of Fermanagh provided a continuous source of inspiration throughout T. P. Flanagan's career, alongside his friendships with artists and poets such as Seamus Heaney.

 

Omagh

Bad Bridget | Ulster American Folk Park

Until 26th April 2024

The stories of thousands of women who left Ireland for North America between 1838 and 1918 are illustrated using an eclectic mix of objects, sights, sounds and smells.

 

Scotland

Aberdeen

The Galloway Hoard: Viking-Age Treasure | Aberdeen Art Gallery

Until 28th October 2019

See the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland, buried around AD 900 and not discovered until 2014.

The Unknown

The Unknown 2012

Kenny Hunter (b.1962) and Hargreaves Foundry

A836, Borgie

Kenny Hunter – Sculpture Court | Aberdeen Art Gallery

Until 30th October 2022

Presented as a provocation and a reflection on the role of public art forms such as the traditional monument, Kenny Hunter sets his sculptures against the magnificent backdrop of the gallery's Sculpture Court.

 

Dundee

A Love Letter to Dundee: Joseph McKenzie Photographs 1964–1987 | The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum

Until 4th September 2022

Photographer Joseph McKenzie's stunning black and white photographs evidence the changing fortunes of Dundee and its people.

 

Edinburgh

Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life | National Museum of Scotland

Until 30th October 2022

Dissecting everything from artistic analysis by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders, this exhibition follows the course of 500 years of medical exploration.

 

Japanese Contemporary Design | National Museum of Scotland

Until 5th March 2023

Striking statement jewellery, prints and porcelain showcase how Japanese contemporary makers have combined innovative and traditional art, craft and design elements.

 

Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life | The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Until 2ndOctober 2022

A major retrospective of over 120 works spanning the artist's entire career, showing her engagement with political and societal change, and the events in her personal life which shaped her practice.

Catterline Coastguard Cottages

Catterline Coastguard Cottages c.1952

Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–1963)

Glasgow Life Museums

Joan Eardley & Catterline | The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Until 21st August 2022

Eardley's works produced in the coastal village of Catterline are the focus of this exhibition that maps the locations where the artist stood to draw and paint.

 

National Treasure: The Scottish Modern Arts Association | City Art Centre

Until 16th October 2022

The Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists, as well as individuals such as William McTaggart, John Duncan, and Anne Redpath, feature in an enlightening overview of the influential group founded in 1907.

 

Will Maclean: Points of Departure | City Art Centre

Until 2nd October 2022

An exhibition drawn from public and private collections reveals an outlook anchored in the history, archaeology and literature of the Scottish Highlands and the Highland people.

 

Glasgow

Alasdair Gray's Lanark: A World Made on Paper | Hunterian Art Gallery

Until 2nd October 2022

The renowned writer and artist's manuscripts and artworks tell the creation story of one of the greatest masterpieces of twentieth-century Scottish literature.

 

John Patrick Byrne: A Big Adventure | Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Until 18th September 2022

The first retrospective of John Byrne's illustrious career for more than 20 years, encapsulating the energy and excitement of this polymath and cultural icon.

By the Clyde

By the Clyde 1992

Beryl Cook (1926–2008)

Glasgow Life Museums

Taste! | Gallery of Modern Art

Until 31st December 2022

An inside look at how the Gallery of Modern Art's collection has been collected, with works from artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Beryl Cook, Andy Warhol, and David Shrigley.

 

Domestic Bliss | Gallery of Modern Art

Until 31st December 2022

Fine art, design, and craft feature in a reflection on the Gallery of Modern Art's history, as a former house, a Royal Exchange and civic space.

 

Spinning Around: Glasgow's Remarkable Record Shops, 1980-1995 | Glasgow Women's Library

Until 2nd March 2023

Music fans will be transported back to a fondly remembered era for the city's record stores, with gold discs from The Bluebells and Simple Minds, and rare club flyers all on display.

 

Making Her Mark | Glasgow Women's Library

Until 27th July 2022

Stories from residents of nineteenth-century poorhouses as well as women writers and artists are brought to life in this exhibition from the Renfrewshire-based Making Her Mark project.

 

Orkney

Inspirational Journeys – Wilhelmina Barns-Graham | The Pier Arts Centre

Until 20th August 2022

See how important trips to Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Lanzarote and Orkney led Wilhelmina Barns-Graham to new perspectives, themes and stylistic changes in her work.

 

Wales

Aberystwyth

Collecting | The National Library of Wales

Until 8th October 2022

A wide-ranging selection of recently acquired items that reflect Wales' past, present and future, encompassing artworks, archives, manuscripts, photographs, film, sound, maps and printed material.

Shirley Bassey (b.1937)

Shirley Bassey (b.1937) 1959

Angus McBean (1904–1990)

National Portrait Gallery, London

Photographs of/by Angus McBean from the School of Art collection | Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery

Until 30th September 2022

Capturing photographer Angus McBean's life through everything from advertising and commissioned portraits to his annual Christmas cards.

 

Ein Bro, Cyd-fyw â'r Tir / Y Tir yn 'Estron' | We live with the land / The Land as Other | Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery

Until 26th August 2022

The fruits of a multi-disciplinary art exploration that brought together artists whose work responded to the history of the land, language, and a sense of place.

 

Caernarfon

FAB 50 – Half a century of History! | National Slate Museum

Until 31st December 2022

Celebrating the 50thanniversary of the museum, with photographs from across the decades and artwork to celebrate the half century by local schools and artists.

 

Cardiff

Wildlife Photographer of the Year | National Museum Cardiff

Until 29th August 2022

Featuring 100 stunning images showing off Earth's extraordinary diversity and the fragility of the natural world, encouraging people to think differently about their relationship with the planet.

 

The Rules of Art? | National Museum Cardiff

Until 4th June 2023

Five hundred years of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, film and ceramics come together to pose questions about representation, identity and culture.


En Famille 1

En Famille 1 2015

Shiraz Bayjoo (b.1979)

Government Art Collection

Swansea

Brook Andrew and Shiraz Bayjoo, Conversations between artists | Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

Until 4th September 2022

An exhibition which includes video, painting, and archival material, from Australian artist and scholar Brook Andrew and Shiraz Bayjoo, an artist who has created context-specific works about his native Mauritius.

Alec Mackenzie, Project Officer at Art UK