A look at the major art exhibitions that Tate Britain and Tate Modern will present in 2025.
Source: Tate · Image: John Constable, “The White Horse”, 1819 · Frick Collection, New York
Tate Britain will begin the year with a solo exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential British artists of this generation, Ed Atkins. Later in the spring, two renowned modern artists – Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun – will each be the subject of solo exhibitions, giving visitors the chance to see the breadth of their vivid and enigmatic paintings. In the autumn, Turner & Constable will bring together Britain’s most famous artistic rivals, marking the 250th anniversary of their births. These two great artists vied for success through very different but equally bold approaches, transforming landscape painting in the process. This exhibition will be an unmissable chance to directly compare their spectacular works and see how their rivalry changed the course of British art. Alongside it, Lee Miller will be given the most extensive retrospective of her photography ever staged in the UK. A trailblazing surrealist and an acclaimed fashion and war photographer, Miller’s extraordinary career will be explored through 250 images, including some never previously displayed.
Tate Modern’s first exhibition of 2025 will focus on the boundary-pushing career of artist, performer, model, designer and musician Leigh Bowery. Later in the spring, Tate Modern’s unique spaces dedicated to performance, film and installation – The Tanks – will host the UK premiere of Hagay Dreaming. This acclaimed performance by new media artist Shu Lea Cheang and practicing shaman Dondon Hounwn combines dance and ritual with laser projections and motion-capture technology. In the summer, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh will invite visitors into the captivating world of this Korean-born, London-based artist. It will then be joined by the first major exhibition of work by Emily Kam Kngwarray ever held in Europe. One of Australia’s greatest artists, Kngwarray was a senior Anmatyerr woman, a community from the Utopia region (north-east of Mparntwe/Alice Springs), whose paintings reflected her ritual, spiritual and ecological engagement with her homelands. In the autumn, Tate Modern will unveil a landmark group exhibition on Nigerian Modernism. The show will celebrate the artists who revolutionised modern art in Nigeria before and after national independence in 1960, combining African and European traditions to create new, multidisciplinary forms across painting, sculpture, textile, literature and poetry. This will coincide with an exhibition taking Picasso’s The Three Dancers as its focus, marking 100 years since this iconic painting was made. Foregrounding Picasso’s fascination with dance, sex and death, this deep dive will put a pivotal work of modern art in dialogue with its historic context and with contemporary dance. The final exhibition of the year will be a major photography exhibition about Global Pictorialism, the international movement which first transformed the camera into an artistic tool. Each season will also be marked by one of Tate Modern’s three high-profile annual commissions. The spring will feature the inaugural Infinities Commission, for which a selected artist will create an experimental and visionary new work for the Tanks. Over the summer school holidays, UNIQLO Tate Play will once again invite visitors of all ages to take part in a newly created artwork founded in participation. In the autumn the Hyundai Commission will see a world-renowned artist transform the Turbine Hall at the heart of Tate Modern with an ambitious new installation.
