Art News: Art galleries to visit in London this winter, free shows and Mayfair

You can see a lot of art in London this winter without buying a ticket. Here are the free shows in the order they close, what is on in the Mayfair galleries this month and the ticketed exhibitions to book. If you would rather choose a gallery first, start with our lists of the best art galleries in London and free art galleries in London.

Free art shows in London this winter

Show	Gallery	Until (2027)
Michael Landy: Future Ruins	Sir John Soane's Museum	17 January
Liz Larner: A hard line to bend	Camden Art Centre	17 January
Yuko Mohri	The Curve, Barbican	24 January
Nicole Eisenman	Royal Academy	5 February
Yinka Shonibare and Thomas Gainsborough: A Conversation	National Gallery	7 February
Rachel Kneebone	Wallace Collection	25 April

The permanent collections at the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection are free too, so you can see Frans Hals's The Laughing Cavalier on the same visit as Rachel Kneebone's show.

Frans Hals, The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, Wallace Collection, London. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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What is on in Mayfair this month

Mayfair's commercial galleries are free to walk into, and you do not have to be buying. Several of these shows close in November.

Show	Gallery	Until (2026)
Ori Orisun Merhav: Portal Into The Multi-Species	Sarah Myerscough, 18 Balderton Street	13 November
William Crozier: Dance of the Living 1961–1974	Flowers Gallery, 21 Cork Street	14 November
Clive Head: Simultaneously Real	Alon Zakaim Fine Art, 27 Cork Street	20 November
Hommage à Pierre Daix	Waddington Custot, 11 Cork Street	21 November
The Studio	Nahmad Projects, 2 Cork Street	11 December
Allen Jones: In Town Tonight	Gazelli Art House, 39 Dover Street	18 December
Reena Saini Kallat: Elsewhere is Already Here	Richard Saltoun, 41 Dover Street	19 December

Our list of Mayfair art galleries gives the address and type of art for more than 40 galleries, street by street.

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Ticketed exhibitions to book

Exhibition	Gallery	Dates
Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize	National Portrait Gallery	5 November to 17 January
Tim Walker's Fairyland	National Portrait Gallery	Until 7 February
Light and Magic	Tate Modern	Until 21 February
William Eggleston	The Photographers' Gallery	Until 21 February
Peggy Guggenheim in London	Royal Academy	21 November to 14 March
Nan Goldin	Hayward Gallery	24 November to 14 March
Van Eyck: The Portraits	National Gallery	21 November to 11 April
Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant	Tate Britain	12 November to 11 April

We checked these dates at the start of November, but check with the gallery before you travel. Our guide to London art exhibitions this winter has more shows, in the order they close.

Tate Britain's collection displays are free, so you can see the Pre-Raphaelites on the same visit as the Bloomsbury show.

John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851–52 (detail), Tate Britain, London. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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More gallery guides

• The best art galleries in London, with what each one shows and whether it is free
• Free art galleries in London
• Mayfair art galleries, street by street
• Art galleries near me, for the rest of the UK

If you own a work by any of these artists

For any work, the first checks are the medium, the date, the signature and the back of the frame, where labels can show where it has been. If you would like to know what you have, send us photographs for a free valuation or request a call. There is no obligation to sell, and we act for you rather than for the saleroom.

Cover: Hendrick Avercamp, A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle, about 1608–09 (detail), National Gallery, London. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.