London exhibitions Archives

November 12, 2026 — No Comments

Robert Ryman Barbican Review: The Real Thing

Last updated: 12 November 2026. I checked every date, price and opening time in this Robert Ryman Barbican review against the Barbican's own pages on 31 October 2026.

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 5/5

Robert Ryman Barbican reviewExhibition / Barbican

Over sixty Ryman paintings, and far more colour than you would expect

This Robert Ryman Barbican review covers Robert Ryman: The Real Thing, which I saw at the Barbican Art Gallery on Saturday 11 October 2026. I went in a Ryman fan, curious how paintings that are mostly white could have this much impact. I came out with my mind blown, a copy of the catalogue and a plan to go back.

The show runs until 28 February 2027 and brings together over sixty works from the mid-1950s to the 2000s. It is the first significant UK exhibition of Ryman's work in over 30 years. Standard tickets cost £20.50, Art Fund members pay £11, and there are Pay What You Can slots every Thursday evening and Friday morning.

See dates and tickets at the Barbican

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: abstract painting, Barbican, Barbican Art Gallery, Exhibition review, London exhibitions, Minimalism, Robert Ryman

November 11, 2026 — No Comments

Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers review

Last updated: 11 November 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 2/5

Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers reviewExhibition / Pace London

I went to see Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers at Pace on Thursday afternoon. It was bonfire night, and also the day Regent Street switched on its Christmas lights, so it involved a fair amount of wading through crowds already milling about, waiting for the angels to light up.

This is the Brooklyn painter's first solo show in London, and Pace says she mixed Thames silt and London clay into the paint. This is where the interest began and ended for me. Having a material attitude (think Richard Long using River Avon mud) is fine, but here it seems to do the heavy lifting for a series of weak and derivative paintings that punch well above their weight. They are big sweeps of green, pink and rust that borrow the look of Turner (and that is a stretch) and the vocabulary of abstraction without the substance of either. If you want to see the kind of painting Kylie Manning aspires to make, go and look at Joan Mitchell's magnificent Iva (1973) at Tate Modern. The Mudlarkers is free until 14 November 2026.

See the exhibition at Pace

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: abstract painting, art review, Contemporary art, contemporary art London, Exhibition review, Kylie Manning, London exhibitions, Mayfair galleries, mudlarking, Pace Gallery

October 21, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Frieze Masters Review 2026: Old Masters, Queering Modernism and Alice Neel

Frieze Masters review 2026: a few visits to Regent's Park, from a 1520s royal portrait to Alice Neel and the new Queering Modernism strand. 4/5 Stone cold.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: art fairs London, art review, Exhibition review, frieze london, frieze masters, Frieze week, London exhibitions, queer history, Regent's Park

October 14, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Frieze Week Exhibitions 2026: Nine London Shows to See Beyond the Fair

Nine London exhibitions to see during Frieze week 2026, from Cindy Sherman at Hauser & Wirth to Robert Ryman at the Barbican. Seven are free.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London

Tags: Barbican, Cady Noland, Cecilia Vicuña, Cindy Sherman, Contemporary art, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, free exhibitions London, frieze london, Frieze week, Gagosian, goldsmiths cca, Hauser & Wirth, Issy Wood, London exhibitions, Mary Ramsden, Mayfair galleries, National Portrait Gallery, Robert Ryman, Whitechapel Gallery

October 12, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Freelands Painting Prize 2026 Review: Twelve New Painters, One Disagreement

Twelve new UK painters, free near the Barbican until 31 October. We gave the Freelands Painting Prize 2026 a 4/5, and our favourite wasn't the winner.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: art prize, Charli-Ann Padilla, contemporary painting, free exhibitions London, Freelands Foundation, Freelands Painting Prize, graduate art, London exhibitions, Painting, Yuchen Zhan

October 11, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Khalif Tahir Thompson Review: Send in the Clowns at Victoria Miro

Khalif Tahir Thompson's first show with Victoria Miro brings eight paintings of Brooklyn to London. Our 3/5 review of Send in the Clowns.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: Contemporary art, contemporary painting, free exhibitions London, frieze london, Khalif Tahir Thompson, London exhibitions, Send in the Clowns, Victoria Miro

October 9, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

This Is Still Not a Pipe Review: Magritte at Gagosian

My This Is Still Not a Pipe review: around fifty Magrittes and 46 artists who followed him, free at Gagosian until 12 December. Cool Factor 5/5.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: Exhibition review, free things to do London, Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London exhibitions, Magritte, Mayfair galleries, René Magritte, Surrealism, This Is Still Not a Pipe

October 6, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Quentin James McCaffrey at Alison Jacques Review

Last updated: 6 October 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 3/5

Quentin James McCaffrey's first UK solo show was on at Alison Jacques from 3 September to 3 October 2026. Comprising fifteen small oil paintings of fictitious surrealist-Magritteish interiors. The panels hold a mirror, a doorway, a bouquet or a patch of sunlight. For me it was technically amazing, but a tad cold and overly referential. That was especially true with Magritte showing up the road at Gagosian at the same time.

The McCaffrey show has now closed. However, the Gagosian Magritte show is free and runs until 12 December 2026, which means you can still go and make the comparison yourself.

Small framed night landscape high on a plum striped wall, with a pink sunbeam falling below it. Painting by Quentin James McCaffrey. — *Landscape with Sunbeam*, 2026. Oil on canvas over wood panel, 40.6 x 33 cm (16 x 13 in).

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: Alison Jacques, Cork Street, Exhibition review, Gagosian, London exhibitions, Magritte, Mayfair galleries, Painting, Quentin James McCaffrey

October 2, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Anish Kapoor at the Hayward Gallery Review: Is It Worth £22?

Last updated: 2 October 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 3/5

The Anish Kapoor Hayward Gallery show is his first solo exhibition there since 1998. It fills the whole building, both outdoor terraces included. I went on a Wednesday afternoon at the end of September. It starts strong, with a ballooning red inflated piece so big you can't walk round it. By the final room, though, it felt like a somewhat confused show. It comes from an artist who was once at the top of his game, and who now feels like he's slid into a late stage of dabbling in every medium.

It runs until 18 October 2026 and tickets cost £22. In the final weeks, the gallery stays open until 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: Anish Kapoor, art review, Contemporary art, Exhibition review, Hayward Gallery, London exhibitions, sculpture, Southbank Centre

October 1, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Frieze London 2026: Tickets, Frieze Masters and What to See

Last updated: 30 September 2026. I checked every price, opening time and date in this Frieze London 2026 guide against Frieze's own ticket and visitor pages that day.

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

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Frieze Week2026 Edit

Frieze London 2026 and Frieze Masters run in The Regent's Park from Wednesday 14 to Sunday 18 October 2026. Wednesday is invitation only, so the public gets four days. Frieze London shows art made mostly since 2000. Frieze Masters shows work made before 2000, from ancient Egypt to the late 20th century, and the two tents sit about 15 minutes' walk apart at either end of the park.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London

Tags: Contemporary art, London exhibitions, Regent's Park