Check out our exhibition picks that are opening in London in the month of October…
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, Natural History Museum: returning for the 61st year, this annual exhibition returns from the 17th October until the 12th July 2026. Featuring the top 100 images, the exhibition offers a chance for visitors to explore the stories behind them with insightful captions and films to highlight the important issues affecting the environment.
Egypt: Influencing British Design, Sir John Soane’s Museum: on display from the 8th October until the 18th January, this exhibition will showcase how mystery, romance and aesthetic appeal from ancient Egypt informed the design of Regency homes, Victorian factories and cemeteries, Art Deco cinemas and twentieth-century houses, shops and offices. he exhibition will include works by Robert Adam, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Owen Jones.
Lee Miller, Tate Britain: the London gallery is set to offer a retrospective of the photographer’s works from her participation in French surrealism to her fashion and war photography. Featuring around 250 vintage and modern prints, including those never previously displayed, this exhibition will be open to the public from the 2nd October until the 15th February.
Nigerian Modernism, Tate Modern: from the 8th October the latest exhibition at the Tate Modern celebrates the achievements of Nigerian artists working on either side of a decade of independence from British colonial rule in 1960. On display until the 10th May 2026, the display tells the story of artistic networks which spanned Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu, as well as London, Munich and Paris, featuring the works of over 50 artists.
A Story of South Asian Art, Royal Academy of Arts: tracing over 100 years of South AsianArt, this new exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (31st October until the 24th February) will explore the history through the people and places that influenced Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949-2015). Alongside Mukherjee, the exhibition features work by her parents, Leela Mukherjee and Benode Behari Mukherjee, who taught at Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan, the pioneering art school founded by poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore. It also celebrates key figures of the Indian cultural scene, including KG Subramanyan, Jagdish Swaminathan, Nilima Sheikh and Gulammohammed Sheikh.
Peter Doig: House of Music, Serpentine Galleries: this new project from the artist brings together recent paintings as well as integrating music into his work. On display from the 10th Ocrtober until the 8th February, the exhibition features two sets of rare, restored analogue speakers, originally designed for cinemas and large auditoriums. Music selected by the artist – from his substantial archive of vinyl records and cassette tapes accumulated over decades – plays through a set of ‘high fidelity’ 1950s wooden Klangfilm Euronor speakers. Each painting on display engages with music in a different way: some depict spaces where music is played or heard, others show musicians performing or people dancing.