The best free exhibitions in London – get your culture fix and keep your money for coffee

Spring has finally, gloriously, sprung, and as usual, London is absolutely packed with things to do – whether that’s exhibitions, events, theatre or music.

But of course, it can all get a bit pricey. So if you want to have a great weekend seeing some of London’s best culture, but also want to save a few quid, look no further than this guide to the best art shows to see in the city, which are all absolutely free.

In this moving commission, Turner Prize-winning British artist Chris Ofili has created a giant art work across Tate Britain’s Northern Staircase to pay tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. The dream-like, brightly-coloured mural gives a special nod to fellow artist Khadija Saye who was killed in the 2017 tragedy.

Tate Britain, ongoing; tate.org.uk

Eleven rooms of the Tate are dedicated to this visual exploration of the varied materials that artists have used over the decades. Expect to see works such as Doris Salcedos famous metal structures, Marcel Duchamp’s toilet seat and Sarah Sze’s installations.

Tate Modern, ongoing; tate.org.uk

Nicaraguan, Miami-based, artist Farley Aguilar’s unsettling, brightly-coloured paintings depict people – in groups, walking with friends – and ask questions about the social facades of and within communities.

Edel Assanti, to May 11; edelassanti.com

Trailblazing British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), a key member of the St Ives group of artists whose cohort included Barbara Hepworth and Patrick Heron, is best remembered for her illuminating abstract paintings. Here 12 of her lesser-known, brilliant works on paper are displayed.

The British Museum, to May 12; britishmuseum.org

It’s been less than a fortnight since the death of Richard Serra, who was recently described as “the greatest sculptor of his generation and one of the greatest in the history of American art”. Known for creating monumental steel architectural installations that would loom over visitors below, Serra’s works were unforgiving and severe - and beautiful. Here are six of his large drawings.

David Zwirner, to May 18; davidzwirner.com

Shizuko Yoshikawa, one of the leading female figures of the 20th century Constructivist and Concrete art movement, has spent her career creating sculptures, paintings and drawings. Here, see four-decades of the Japan-born, Switzerland-based artist’s thought-provoking works.

Marlborough Gallery London, to May 18; marlboroughgallerylondon.com

In his fifth solo exhibition with this east London gallery, Spanish artist Secundino Hernández presents colourful works on giant ovals (the mystical shapes reoccur throughout religious iconography, and are “deeply ingrained in the Spanish imagination”). They continue his exploration of art history and aesthetic movements.

Victoria Miro, to May 18; victoria-miro.com

Shaqúelle Whyte’s enigmatic paintings, which often depict figures caught off-guard, ask questions about the human condition, and explore how everyday moments come to form a life.

Pippy Houldsworth, to May 25; houldsworth.co.uk

Twist is a continuation of Dancing in Time: The Ties That Bind Us, London-based artist LR Vandy’s five-meter-high rope sculpture commissioned for the International Slavery Museum’s 2023 Martin Luther King celebrations. LR Vandy is known for creating thought-provoking sculptures from unusual objects; here she has used ropes and boat hulls to examine the history of trade and power.

October Gallery, to May 25; octobergallery.co.uk

Featuring the work of Ken Eastman, Luke Fuller, Yoshimi Futamura, Tomonari Hashimoto and Jonathan Keep, this group exhibition is a love letter to ceramics in a series of exquisite pots and sculptures.

Sarah Myerscough Gallery, to June 1; sarahmyerscough.com

In this thought-provoking and humorous exhibition, multidisciplinary artist Mark Corfield-Moore (b. 1988, Bangkok) looks into the history of textile craftsmanship, adopting traditional techniques he learnt in northern Thailand and utilising the methods in his own playful textile works.

Goldsmiths CCA, to June 2; goldsmithscca.art

Anti-rape demonstrations in Bangladesh, Iranian unrest after Mahsa Amini’s death, reactions to the US Supreme Court overturning of Roe vs Wade – these are just a few of the global events depicted in Acts of Resistance. The group photography exhibition, which has been organised in collaboration with the V&A, explores documentation as a tool of protest.

South London Gallery, to June 9; southlondongallery.org

Drawing largely on pieces in the Lincoln's Inn museum’s fantastic collection, Fanciful Figures shines a light on the small human and animal figures that would populate large-scale Georgian architectural drawings, used by artists to add intrigue and create a sense of size.

Sir John Soane’s Museum, to June 9; soane.org

Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s inaugural London show is a solo exhibition of new paintings by American visual artist N.Dash. The process-focused works are inspired by the natural world and continue her exploration of bodily intelligence, this time honing in on touch.

Lévy Gorvy Dayan, to June 12; levygorvydayan.com

An outspoken feminist and anti-war activist, New Jersey-born Judith Bernstein has spent her career making provocative large-scale drawings of genitalia. Her first exhibition in London in over a decade is a retrospective of 30 years of her startling, confrontational works.

Emalin, to June 15; emalin.co.uk

This illuminating group exhibition presents Surrealist works from pioneers of the movement, such as Giorgio De Chirico, Max Ernst and Joan Miró, alongside lesser-known contemporary artists who continue Surrealist ideas or strategies in their work. Asking questions about reality, the unconscious and perception, the exhibition marks 100 years since the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto.

Waddington Custot, to June 15; waddingtoncustot.com

Jerusalem-born, New York-based multimedia artist Uri Aran imagines his works - drawings, paintings, sculptures, collages, photographs - as a visual language or a poem, with a rhythm and repeated motifs within. By exploring how these pieces relate to each other, he raises questions about excess, information, history and lexicons.

Sadie Coles HQ, to June 15; sadiecoles.com

86-year-old German painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz returns to White Cube Bermondsey for the first time in eight years, presenting a body of new work in which he reflects on a variety of moments from his extraordinary life, and reflects on his art practice to date.

White Cube Bermondsey, to June 16; whitecube.com

An excellent option for those who won’t be able to make it to see Tesfaye Urgessa’s presentation at Ethiopia’s first National Pavilion at Venice this year. The show spotlights 14 paintings the celebrated Ethiopian painter has created over the last two years in Addis Ababa, Nürtingen and Padua. Depicting contorted human figures, the works deal with the artist’s personal experience of prejudice.

Saatchi Yates, to June 16; saatchiyates.com

Art Now is Tate Britain’s long-running exhibition series spotlighting rising stars in the art scene; this time, it’s Kenyan-born and London-based artist Zeinab Saleh’s turn to shine. Drawing on everyday experiences and memories, Saleh uses patterns and silhouettes in soft colours to create a feeling of otherworldliness and intimacy.

Tate Britain, to June 23; tate.org.uk

Bradford-born Matthew Krishanu draws on his childhood in Bangladesh raised by Christian missionary parents to create this new series of paintings and works on paper. Atmospheric and sometimes haunting, the pieces explore memory, religion and history.

Camden Art Centre, to June 23; camdenartcentre.org

Ugandan-born, London-based artist Andrew Omoding presents a brand new site specific series of abstract installations that incorporate music, video and sculpture, which have been made from repurposed objects and metal. The autobiographical pieces, a continuation of his 2019 presentation at the gallery, reflect on childhood and migration.

Camden Arts Centre, April 26 to June 23; camdenartcentre.org

Bloomberg’s City of London basement is full of surprises. It not only consists of an art gallery, but it is home to parts of an ancient Roman temple and showcases a number of Roman artefacts too. Its next art commission is DREAM-BRIDGE-OMNIGLYPH, a collection of multimedia works from British artist Leo Robinson that explores ancient myths, personal identity, history, tradition and colonialism.

London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, to June 29; londonmithraeum.com

Moroccan artist Soufiane Ababri’s first major solo UK exhibition is a tender investigation of queerness, desire and diasporic life through drawings and set design: “This atmospheric installation won’t give up all its secrets to everyone, but it’s evocative nonetheless,” said the Standard. 

Barbican, to June 30; barbican.org.uk

Not that anyone really needs an excuse to visit the Barbican’s gorgeous conservatory, but the space now features five large-scale works from Indian sculptor Ranjani Shettar. The delightful sculptures, which have been inspired by nature, have been crafted by hand using materials - including wood, stainless steel, muslin - and techniques that are used in traditional Indian craftwork.

Barbican, to July 1; barbican.org.uk

Brazilian artist Adriano Costa uses everyday materials to create his sculpture, installation and painting works. His minimalist and modernist work is here presented in – and draws from – the historical Clerk’s House in Shoreditch High Street.

Emalin, to July 13; emalin.co.uk

Violent, cinematic, eternally provocative, Caravaggio’s kinetic paintings continue to inspire. Which is why a one-room show of just two of the Italian master’s paintings – The National Gallery’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1609-10) and The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610), seen in London for the first time in 20 years – is one of the most buzzy openings of the year.

The National Gallery, to July 21; nationalgallery.org.uk

Influential German contemporary artist Isa Genzken, best known for her sculptural works, draws on the aesthetics of Minimalism and punk culture to ask questions about society, capitalism, human experience and perception. Here her 2004 installation, Wasserspeier and Angels, is revived to celebrate two decades since its London debut.

Hauser & Wirth, to July 27; hauserwirth.com

Ibrahim Mahama has collaborated with hundreds of craftspeople from Ghana to create this delicate, uplifting installation, which sees the Barbican wrapped in 2,000 square metres of purple cloth. 100 ‘batakaris’ – royal Ghanian robes – have been hand sewn to the brightly-coloured piece that adds a shock of colour to the famous grey tones of the Brutalist space.

Barbican, to August 18; barbican.org.uk

Described as “beautiful, alluring and disquieting” and “classic Yinka”, Suspended States, Yinka Shonibare’s first London solo exhibition in more than two decades is a series of illuminating installations made since 2017. Expect statues of Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill wrapped head to toe in bright fabrics; models of buildings that have housed the vulnerable; and his harrowing war library.

Serpentine South Gallery, to September 1; serpentinegalleries.org

British artist Jodie Carey’s large-scale installations extend across the giant glass foyer of this east London office, inviting viewers to contemplate the anthropocene, material memory, and the relationship between objects and their environment.

100 Bishopsgate, to September 20; brookfieldproperties.com

Mingei, meaning ‘the art of the people’, is an early 20th century Japanese folk-craft style which encompassed ceramics, woodwork, paper, toys, textiles, photography and film. In this wide-ranging, illuminating show, unseen pieces, museum loans and archival footage tell the story of the influential movement.

William Morris Gallery, to September 22; wmgallery.org.uk

Frederic Leighton’s most famous painting, the exquisite Flaming June, was originally part of the British artist’s submission to the RA’s Summer Exhibition in 1895. Now, 128 years later, it’s on show at the institution again (on loan from the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico), being shown alongside work from both Leighton and his contemporaries.

Royal Academy of Arts, to January 12, 2025; royalacademy.org.uk

Quiet, thought-provoking and moving, the exhibition displays 18 large-scale portraits by the Belfast-born artist Colin Davidson. He’s painted individuals who have experienced loss due to The Troubles, Ireland’s 30-year sectarian conflict.

National portrait Gallery, February 23, 2025; npg.org.uk