London Galleries 2025: Best Art Exhibitions and Hidden Art Spaces

When you think of London galleries, physical and cultural spaces where visual art is displayed for public viewing, often tied to institutions, collectives, or independent curators. Also known as art venues, they’re not just rooms with paintings—they’re where ideas about identity, politics, and culture get made visible in the city. In 2025, London’s gallery scene is more alive than ever, mixing world-class institutions with raw, community-driven spaces that don’t wait for permission to speak up.

It’s not just about the Whitechapel galleries, a historic East London hub known for launching radical art movements and supporting underrepresented artists since the 1900s. Also known as East London art spaces, they’ve become the heartbeat of experimental work in the city. Places like the Whitechapel Gallery are still pushing boundaries, but now they’re joined by pop-ups in disused warehouses, artist-run basements in Peckham, and rooftop installations above Camden markets. You’ll find contemporary art London, current, often challenging visual work created by living artists that reflects today’s social, digital, and political realities. Also known as modern art London, it’s no longer locked behind velvet ropes everywhere—from the V&A’s new digital textile exhibits to a tiny studio in Brixton where a Nigerian-British artist is projecting migrant stories onto brick walls. These aren’t just exhibitions. They’re conversations.

What makes 2025 different? More galleries are opening their doors for free, ditching the elitist vibe. You don’t need a membership to see what’s happening. The art exhibitions London, curated displays of artworks, often themed around a concept, artist, or movement, hosted by galleries, museums, or public spaces. Also known as art shows London, they’re now shaped by who’s actually living here—not just who’s rich enough to fund them. Look at the Mural Festival’s 100+ new street pieces. Or the theatre costume exhibits at the Design Museum. Or the queer textile archives in Shoreditch. These are all art exhibitions, and they’re all free. You just have to show up.

And the artists? They’re not waiting for invites. They’re claiming space—on walls, in abandoned shops, on buses. You’ll find work that speaks to migration, climate anxiety, digital burnout, and the quiet joy of community. There’s no single style. No one movement. Just a city full of voices saying, Look at this. This matters.

Below, you’ll find hand-picked stories from London’s most compelling gallery moments in 2025. From the big names everyone talks about to the hidden spots you’ll wish you found sooner. No fluff. Just where to go, what to see, and why it sticks with you after you leave.