Read our pick of the best London art exhibitions to see this month, from Cosima von Bonin childlike objects at Raven Row to Hugh Hayden's quirky, tactile installations at Lisson Gallery.
When conjuring up imagery of October, of course iconography of witches and ghouls jumps to the forefront, while an air of dark academia echoes throughout. Yet, for those bewitched by the art world, it is not the anticipation of Halloween, but of Frieze London (15-19 October), that marks the mid-autumn season. This month explore a variety of must-see London art exhibitions across the city. Discover Johnathan Schofield’s return to painting after his tenure at Stella McCartney to Taiwanese artist Val Lee marking her first solo show in the UK at The Hayward Gallery. From group shows to major career retrospectives, plan your next visit with our frequently updated guide to the month’s best offerings.
‘The Defiance of Summer’ by Jonathan Schofield
Vivienne Roberts Projects from 30 September to 21 November 2025
‘The Defiance of Summer’ by Jonathan Schofield marks the former creative director at Stella McCartney’s return to painting. After graduating from London’s Royal College of Art (RCA) in the late 1990s under the tutelage of the likes of Peter Doig and Helen Chadwick, the London-based painter found that the type of work he wanted to create was out of step with the trends of the art world. He picked up his brushes again seriously during Covid. ‘I wasn’t meant to have a second turn of the wheel, and so I feel very liberated. As a young artist, you’re so hyper-conscious of your place in the world of private views and artistic trends that you can feel trapped. But since I came back to it, I feel liberated just to paint the things I want to paint.’
‘Umbilical’ by Conrad Shawcross
Here East until 2 November 2025
Conrad Shawcross unveils his most ambitious rope machine yet, in London. Working at the intersection of physics, philosophy and art Shawcross creates mechanical sculptures that are monumental in their scale. At 10m high, his new work ‘The Nervous System (Umbilical)’, is his most ambitious yet. Composed of 40 interlocking arms that weave umbilical-like rope in sequences that are never repeated, it is synonymous with the movements of our solar system, tracing the planets orbiting the sun in a spinning galaxy, itself flattening and expanding.
The David Bowie Centre
V&A East Storehouse, permanent
Fashion, memorabilia and personal ephemera from David Bowie, now on view at the V&A East Storehouse in London, are as wondrous in their range as their creator. The pioneering musician’s 90,000-item personal archive are equally accessible, and – like the artist at the heart of it – equally wondrous in their range. Bowie was an inveterate curator – you might say hoarder – of his own life, keeping every quicksilver fashion statement, every scrap of paper, every piece of memorabilia, amassing a deeply personal life-map that accompanies the Centre’s 70,000 photographs, negatives and colour transparencies. So, alongside the rejection letters are fan correspondence that he kept with equal assiduousness.
‘Very High Frequency’ by Hilary Lloyd
Studio Voltaire until 11 January 2026
English artist Hilary Lloyd’s film works defy easy classification. Lloyd likes to channel a mix of mediums and eclectic arrays of inspiration into a new way of seeing, often scattering monitors and screens around a space, forcing the viewer to move through an exhibition differently. At Studio Voltaire, she considers the life and works of playwright, television dramatist and writer Dennis Potter (b 1935–d 1994). Through a series of short films featuring the collaborators, producers and actors who were close to Potter, including Gina Bellman, Alison Steadman, Richard E Grant and Kenith Trodd, Lloyd constructs a theatrical biography of Potter’s life and enduring influence - ultimately begging the question, why Potter?
‘Postures: Jean Rhys in the Modern World’
Michael Werner Gallery until 22 November
Celebrated as a pioneer of feminist and postcolonial literature, the Dominican-born Jean Rhys’s vision continues to inspire a new generation of Caribbean voices today, including Jamaica Kincaid and Caryl Phillips. Perhaps more surprising, though, is her affinity with the visual arts: now her work finds new life at Michael Werner Gallery’s ‘Postures: Jean Rhys in the Modern World’, an exhibition curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and critic Hilton Als. Drawn from archival research at Yale, the show brings together drawings, paintings, books, and archival material alongside works by artists such as Kara Walker, Celia Paul, Hurvin Anderson, and Francis Picabia, creating, ambitiously, a ‘collective portrait’ of Rhys’s life.
Riccardo Dalisi
Spazio Leone until 26 October 2025
Spazio Leone, founded in 2020 by Napoli-born gallerist Gennaro Leone, has made a name as a source of sculptural, idiosyncratic pieces for London’s top interior designers. Now, in collaboration with designer Oscar Piccolo, it will host the first UK retrospective of Riccardo Dalisi (1931-2022), one of the most radical and playful figures of postwar design. Spazio Leone draws together six decades of the Italian visionary’s work, from whimsical coffee pots to radical community workshops.
Lee Miller
Tate Britain from 2 October 2025 until 15 February 2026
The exhibition is a retrospective on Lee Miller’s career which spanned from her participation in French surrealism to her fashion and war photography. Miller began working with cameras when she was in front of it, being one of the most sought-after models in the late 1920s. She then decided to work behind the lens capturing scenes across New York, Paris, London and Cairo. Visitors can be captivated by 250 vintage and modern prints, including those never previously displayed.
‘Val Lee: The Presence of Solitude’
The Hayward Gallery from 7 October 2025 until 11 January 2026
Taiwanese artist Val Lee marks her first solo show in the UK. The exhibition unites film, photography and costume, each reflecting the idea of isolation and solitude. Her work features disjointed and ambiguous narratives, while protagonists are unidentifiable. The result echoes a feeling of alienation, while the viewer is submerged in collective memories shaped by political systems.
‘Hugh Hayden: Hughmanity’
Lisson Gallery until 1 November 2025
The Texan-born artist is known for his artistic investigation of the theme of passage, more specifically looking into symbolism recognised within community and belief. In ‘Hughmanity’, works include a dining table up in flames, a child’s dress made from tree bark, cigarettes poking out of the United States flag, among others. The artist plays with the dichotomy of joy and sadness, refuge and danger, while a spiritual undertone is weaved throughout.
‘Cosima von Bonin: Upstairs Downstairs’
Raven Row 9 October to 14 December 2025
Since she came to prominence in Cologne in the 1990s, Cosima von Bonin has become a producer of objects that balance humour and melancholy. ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ is an exhibition featuring the artist’s early works, including a variety of objects and characters that nod to an imaginative childhood. This marks her first exhibition in London.
Christopher Wool
Gagosian 13 October until 19 December 19 2025
American artist Christopher Wool presents over fifty works on paper, sculptures, and prints, all rooted in abstraction. Each piece explores expansive artistic techniques varying from working on silkscreen to expressive mark making and overpainting. Wool achieves this by dragging turpentine-soaked rags over the painted surface to efface his images in a haze of gray mist.
Pascale Marthine Tayou
Galleria Continua, Robilant+Voena 16 October until 21 November
Coinciding with Frieze Week Galleria Continua, Robilant+Voena will present Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou first UK solo gallery show. The gallery will present twelve works, a selection which reflects the artist’s work across mixed media. He carefully and visually investigates consumerism and colonialism, alongside the environment, identity and childhood. What is interesting is the use of himself as a starting point for his works. The showcase merges Tayou’s Central African heritage with his experiences living, travelling and working across Europe.
Charlie Ahearn: Wild Style
Woodbury House, until 10 October 2025
Coinciding with the BFI London Film Festival, New York artist Charlie Ahearn’s ‘Wild Style’ is his first UK solo exhibition, Here, visitors can explore the filmmaker’s best known film Wild Style (1983). The showcase presents large-scale canvases, silkscreens and mixed-media works from the late 1970s to the present day. Ahearn, who has painted throughout his career as a filmmaker, captures the energy of Wild Style and the downtown communities that shaped it, charting keep moments from the early hip-hop scene.
‘Noémie Goudal And yet it still moves’
Edel Assanti from 10 October until 19 December 2025
French visual artist Noémie Goudal looks at ecology and Earth sciences in her latest exhibition at Edel Assanti. Across three rooms of the gallery, her works explore geological time with an artistic twist; interpreted through film, sculpture, photography and performance. The exhibition is timely and poignant, given climate crises happening globally.
Nigerian Modernism
Tate Modern from 8 October 2025 until 10 May 2026
‘Nigerian Modernism’ explores modern art in Nigeria in the mid-20th century and the artists who pioneered the movement. Visitors journey through a story of artistic works which spanned across Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu, as well as London, Munich and Paris. The exhibition looks at multidimensional works which unites Nigerian, African and European techniques by artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960.
‘Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris’
The Gagosian until 4 October 2025
Paul McCartney’s backstage photographs of Beatlemania, formerly presumed lost, are now displayed at The Gagosian exhibition ‘Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris’. It also offers the chance to acquire rare and signed photographs from McCartney’s archive.
‘Mornings at the Lido’
Offer Waterman until 24 October 2025
Reminisce cool summer days at painter Tarka Kings’ exhibition which focuses on wild swimming. The series of drawings on paper and gesso board takes inspiration from painters Georges Seurat, Gerhard Richter and Ed Ruscha, merging impressionism, pop art, and photorealism. The series explores the journey of a woman swimming in the Serpentine, where Kings swims almost daily, and the potential presented by bodies of water to offer respite in urban environments.
LMK when you reach
Autoitalia, until 26 October 2025
Bernice Mulenga’s photographs cover the walls like a living diary. What looks anarchic at first sharpens into unrehearsed images that are tender and defiant, a portrait of friendship, care and visible solidarity.
“Bury Your Masters”
Pilar Corrias until 1 November 2025
Manuel Mathieu showcases his paintings, and sculptural works at his second solo exhibition at Pilar Corrias. Here he looks at politics and spirituality, and how they are inherited. Through abstraction Mathieu’s installation works between two and three dimensions, which confronts home truths.
Birth of a Nation and The Enemy of All Mankind
Victoria Miro until 1 November 2025
Canadian video artist and photographer, Stan Douglas, makes his European debut at Victoria Miro with a video installation (Birth of a Nation) and new works from his recent photographic series, The Enemy of All Mankind: Nine Scenes from John Gay’s Polly. Both media pieces explore themes of race, class and gender.
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami: Incantations
Victoria Miro until 1 November 2025
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami’s series of paintings explore spirituality, and expressions of contemporary Black and Queer identities. The exhibition also features the artist’s Atom paintings which were inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself and its line ‘For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you’.
Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs
Japan House until 9 November
Delve into the world of pictograms, at Japan House in London. The gallery, located on Kensington High Street, is specifically dedicated to Japanese art, design, and innovation. its latest exhibition ‘Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs’ explores Japan’s significant role in the development of this symbolic visual language. The exhibition looks at the origin of pictograms, from ancient Egyptian tomb carvings through to its use in present day Japan, and worldwide. Not only deep diving into its history, the exhibition also looks forward, exploring the future use of these universal signs.
‘A Capsule in Time’ by Marina Tabassum
Serpentine Pavilion, Serpentine South until 26 October 2025
Architect Marina Tabassum designs the Serpentine Pavillion for 2025. Located along the north-south axis of the park, the pavilion features an elongated capsule-like form, with a central court. Tabassum took inspiration from park outings, summer, and green gardens and foliage which filters soft daylight. The design is rooted in her architectural language, something that is contemporary, while also nodding to a specific place, culture and history.
Do Ho Suh ‘Walk the House’
Tate Modern until 19 October 2025
Do Ho Suh’s exhibition, ‘Walk the House’ at Tate Modern, sees the South Korean artist recreate his homes from Seoul, New York, London and Berlin. Upon entering the exhibition the visitor is confronted with a closed door. But it is not one that blocks passage into the exhibition, or stops you immediately reading the range of works filling the wide open Blavatnik Building gallery. The door is part of the meticulously sewn and constructed Nest/s (2024), a series of 1:1 reproductions of thresholds of homes the South Korean artist has lived in.
1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader
Wellcome Collection until 6 April 2026
At the Wellcome Collection creative duo Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader have collaborated on their latest exhibition ‘1880 THAT’ which includes film, installation and drawings to explore the communication between signed and spoken languages, and challenge a medical perspective of deafness as something to be cured. The brick motif is a recurring theme in the exhibition symbolising the building blocks of language, as well as the act of throwing bricks as a gesture of protest. The exhibition is a mix of witty design, humour and word play to uncover the complexities of meaning and (mis)understanding.
