Summer in London can bring many great reasons to be outdoors, whether sporting events like the Ashes and Wimbledon, a chance to enjoy the sun in one of the many large royal parks, or major events like the Notting Hill Carnival.
However, not everyone wants to be outdoors all the time and the thunderstorms that hit the capital (and much of the rest Of the UK) on June 12th were a reminder that it won’t always be so dry and sunny. However, there will also be plenty of indoor events you can pencil into your diary this summer.
Art is certainly one of them, with Artlyst drawing up a roster of great exhibitions to see around the capital in the coming weeks and months. Not only could it offer plenty of fascination and discovery of works modern and historic, but it could inspire you to buy some art yourself and get down to a framing shop in London to have it set in place in a style that suits your home.
According to Artlyst, great exhibitions you can see before June is over include ‘After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art’. Shown at the National Gallery, this exhibition began in March and runs until August 13th. It highlights the period from 1886 to 1914, when works from the likes of Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Claudel and Kollwitz will be shown.
The website describes this period in modern art as “exciting and often revolutionary” and it is a notable event, with many paintings on loan from some of the top galleries across Europe.
Dog lovers may want to visit the Wallace Collection, as Portraits of Dogs, from Gainsborough to Hockney is currently on display there until October 15th. This includes paintings, sculptures and even examples of taxidermy.
If female artists oF Impressionism is your thing, then an exhibition of works by 19th century artist Berthe Morisot at the Dulwich Picture Gallery is open now and continues until September 10th. It will be the first major exhibition of her works in Britain since the 1950s.
Other great displays include the Rossettis in the Tate Britain with their love and sex themes, until September 24th, and landscape images by Hilma of Klint and Piet Mondrian at the Tate Modern until September 3rd. The latter will also show the works of contemporary artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien until August 20th.
Religious art fans may enjoy an exhibition of works themed on St Francis of Assisi at the National Gallery now, running until July 30th, while the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition has just started and will run until August 20th.
These are just some of the exhibitions you can see now, with more to come later in the summer.
Plenty of other guides have recommended these exhibitions too. Time Out has plugged the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, for instance. But it has also suggested some others to try, like Anselm Kiefer: ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ at the White Cube in Bermondsey and Bathers at Saachi Yates. Both are open now and will continue until August.
What all this goes to show is that if you are looking for artistic inspiration in London this summer, you will have loads of opportunities to find it.