London is a city that never stops showcasing its rich tapestry of history, culture, and creativity - and the best part? You don’t have to empty your wallet to enjoy it. While world-renowned art galleries and museums like the Serpentine and National Portrait Gallery may seem daunting with their vast collections and crowds, they’re also filled with free exhibitions that offer a chance to explore, learn, and be inspired - without spending a penny.
Whether you’re a history buff, an art enthusiast, or just looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon, London's free exhibitions are packed with treasures that will make you look at the city (and the world) in a whole new way.
🖼️📸🖌️
Our Guide To Free Exhibitions In London 2026
1. Outernet
- When: Ongoing
- Where: Outernet, Charing Cross Road
- Nearest station: Tottenham Court Road
Outernet is a playground where technology, entertainment, and culture collide in one of the most spectacular, free immersive exhibitions in London. Think of it as the ultimate intersection between the digital world and reality, but without the need for a headset.
Located by Tottenham Court Road station, it's home to an array of exhibitions spanning a couple of minutes each throughout the year.
Witness when nature meets the city like never before with Victoria Fard's Milagro (pictured).
2. Andrea Mantegna: The Triumphs Of Caesar
- Where: National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE
- When: Now until 8th May 2026
- Nearest station: Charing Cross or Leicester Square
One of the best free exhibitions London has to offer, this gem is giving you a rare and extraordinary chance to see six monumental works from Andrea Mantegna’s The Triumphs of Caesar, on loan from His Majesty The King at The National Portrait Gallery. These Renaissance masterpieces - usually housed at Hampton Court Palace - are being exhibited for the longest stretch away from their historic home while the Mantegna Gallery undergoes renovation.
Painted between 1485 and 1506 for the Gonzaga family of Mantua, The Triumphs depict a grand, imagined procession celebrating Julius Caesar’s military victories. Considered among the crowning achievements of Italian Renaissance art, these vast tempera canvases showcase Mantegna’s fascination with classical antiquity and his razor-sharp attention to detail. With bold colours, tightly folded drapery, and marble-like figures, the paintings blur the line between sculpture and painting.
The Triumphs of Caeser: The Trumpeters by Andrea Mantegna (pictured).
3. Lines Of Feeling: Portrait Drawing Now
- Where: National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place WC2H 0HE
- When: Now until the 4th of January 2026
- Nearest station: Charing Cross or Leicester Square
Lines of Feeling: Portrait Drawing Now at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates the dynamic and evolving world of portrait drawing, showcasing recent acquisitions that reveal the emotional depth and immediacy of this artistic practice. Featuring works by leading contemporary artists, the exhibition highlights how portraiture continues to thrive, with artists pushing the boundaries of what a drawing can be.
From traditional pencil and charcoal sketches to innovative pieces using gouache, oil sticks, and even silk thread, these works invite viewers to engage with the diverse ways artists convey personality and emotion. One of the highlights is an interactive display, offering a closer look at the materiality of these drawings. A new film provides a fascinating microscope view of Howard Tangye’s layered portrait of fashion designer Richard Nicoll, revealing the intricate details and depth of his work.
Richard Nicoll, by Howard Tangye (pictured).
4. Chris Ofili: Requiem
- Where: Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG
- When: Ongoing
- Nearest Station: Pimlico
Dreaming of free exhibitions? London's Tate Britain is always a good idea for a budget-friendly wander around some brilliant pieces of art, including this emotion-evoking installation. Commissioned for the north staircase, Chris Ofili: Requiem is a deeply emotional and poignant tribute to Khadija Saye, who tragically lost her life in the Grenfell Tower fire, as well as a reflection on the collective grief following the tragedy.
Ofili’s dream-like mural speaks to his poetic and personal connection to the event. After meeting Saye in 2017, Ofili was profoundly moved by her passing and sought to honour her memory as a 'powerful creative force of transformation.' He draws on the emotions he first explored in his 1998 piece No Woman, No Cry, which was a tribute to Stephen Lawrence and the pain of racial injustice. This new work, infused with feelings of sadness and loss, channels the artist’s need to address the ongoing sense of injustice.
Chris Ofili, Requiem, (pictured) was commissioned for Tate Britain's north staircase.
5. Bharti Kher: Target Queen
- Where: Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
- When: Now until 12th September 2027
- Nearest Station: Waterloo
Watch in awe as the iconic Hayward Gallery is transformed with a monumental mural that reimagines the bindi, a cultural and spiritual symbol worn by South Asian women, thanks to Target Queen by Bharti Kher. The target-like motifs, each spanning three meters in diameter, cover two sides of the building, visible from both Belvedere Road and Waterloo Bridge. Kher's reimagining of the concentric circle not only evokes a cosmic vision but also symbolises the cyclical nature of life.
This powerful mural infuses both spiritual resonance and feminine energy into the stark Brutalist architecture, transforming it into a tribute to the Mother goddess. Kher’s work is renowned for its ability to blur the boundaries between humanity, nature, and politics. Known for using found objects in her sculptures, she strips these materials of their conventional meanings, creating enchanting, abstract compositions that open up to new interpretations.
It's hard to miss Target Queen by Bharti Kher when walking over Waterloo Bridge.
6. The Weight Of Being: Vulnerability, Resilience and Mental Health in Art
- Where: Two Temple Place, WC2R 3BD
- When: 24th January - 19th April 2026
- Nearest Station: Temple
What does it mean to carry the weight of being human? Opening at Two Temple Place, The Weight of Being: Vulnerability, Resilience and Mental Health in Art is a quietly powerful exhibition that confronts this question head-on. Curated by Angela Thomas, the show brings together twentieth-century and contemporary artists whose work gives form to anxiety, endurance and emotional survival.
Across portraits, landscapes and figurative studies, these artists explore the psychological toll of societal pressure and existential uncertainty - not with spectacle, but with honesty, sensitivity and moments of hard-won hope.
John Wilson McCracken (1936-1982), Moving Torso, 1974, Oil on board. (c) Estate of the artist Image courtesy of Hartlepool Borough Council.
7. Jane Hayes Greenwood: Weird Weather
- Where: 6 Conduit Street, Mayfair, W1S 2XE
- When: 23rd January - 7th March 2026
- Nearest Station: Bond Street
Opening at IONE & MANN, Weird Weather is a deeply felt solo exhibition by Jane Hayes Greenwood that turns landscape painting into an emotional barometer. Created in the months following the death of the artist’s mother in early 2025, these new paintings and drawings collapse the distance between outer climate and inner life.
West Yorkshire hills from Hayes Greenwood’s childhood are reimagined under swelling skies, where anthropomorphic clouds bulge, rainbows stretch into the bodily and landforms strain under invisible pressure. The result is a series of landscapes that feel alive with memory - places where love, loss, wonder and instability coexist in a constantly shifting atmosphere.
8. New Contemporaries 2026
- Where: 65 Peckham Road, South London, SE5 8UH
- When: 20th January - 12th April 2026
- Nearest Station: Peckham Rye
If you want a snapshot of where British art is heading and what’s weighing on the next generation, New Contemporaries 2026 is the place to look. Returning with its annual open-call exhibition, the long-running organisation showcases work by 26 emerging artists selected by Pio Abad, Louise Giovanelli and Grace Ndiritu.
Across painting, sculpture, film, installation and digital practices, the artists grapple with the realities of now: dystopian futures, climate anxiety, gentrification, displacement and the invisible systems of power that shape daily life. These works don’t just respond to crisis, they ask how we live, connect and care for one another in a world that feels increasingly fractured.
River Yuhao Cao, The Glass Essays, 2024, still from moving image, 16 mins. 40 sec.
Save more pennies by discovering the best of London's free museums in our guide.
