Art in Essex

Arts Calendar lists 21 exhibitions, 5 workshops and classes and 2 drawing groups at 17 venues in Essex. Colchester has the most, with 15. Saturday is the busiest night, with 4 of the regular listings.

Tuesday 1 December to Thursday 31 December

Today

Happy birthday to Kerry James Marshall (71 today)

Exhibitions on these days

Opens Sat 5 Dec
Exhibition

Lost & Found

Thames-Side Studios Gallery, Woolwich, Greater London
Opens Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Jason and the Adventure of 254

The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury, Kent
Closes Sat 5 Dec
Exhibition

Living Water: Poetry, Art and the Fight for Clean Rivers

Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Closes Sun 6 Dec
Exhibition

Maggi Hambling: War Requiem

Britten Pears Arts Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk
Closes Sun 6 Dec
Exhibition

Painting with Light: The Art of Gerard Ceunis

North Hertfordshire Museum, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
- Solo show
- Painting
Closes Sun 6 Dec
Exhibition

Wakaliga Uganda: Kibuuka Omumbaale

Chisenhale Gallery, Bow, Greater London
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte

Gagosian Grosvenor Hill, London, Greater London
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Royal Institute of Oil Painters: Annual Exhibition 2026

Mall Galleries, London, Greater London
- Members show
- Painting
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Pierre Soulages

Timothy Taylor, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Off The Wall

Gibberd Gallery, Harlow, Essex
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Rebecca Warren: There Will Be Another You

Maureen Paley, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Sculpture
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Episode 16: Katie Shannon, BACK/PRUNE/VIRGIN/RUIN

Goldsmiths CCA, New Cross, Greater London
Closes Sat 12 Dec
Exhibition

Dala Nasser: Cemetery of Martyrs

Peer, Hoxton, Greater London
Closes Sun 13 Dec
Exhibition

The Film London Jarman Award 2026

Whitechapel Gallery, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Film and video
Closes Sun 13 Dec
Exhibition

Listening to the earth

Drawing Room, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Drawing
Closes Sun 13 Dec
Exhibition

Evelyn Taocheng Wang: Being Poetic Ruins Life

Goldsmiths CCA, New Cross, Greater London
Closes Thu 17 Dec
Exhibition

Misery and Beauty: Harry Becker and East Anglian Farm Labour around the Great War

Robert Cripps Gallery, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Closes Fri 18 Dec
Exhibition

Georg Baselitz: The Heroes 1965 to 66

Thaddaeus Ropac London, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

Courtyard Arts Members’ Show 2026

Courtyard Arts Hertford, Hertford, Hertfordshire
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

No Plan at All: Prints from BORCH Editions

David Zwirner London, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Printmaking
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

Bahar Noorizadeh: The Debtor’s Portal

The Showroom, London, Greater London
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

Glenn Ligon: Prompts

Thomas Dane Gallery, London, Greater London
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

Paul Pfeiffer: Pasodoble

Thomas Dane Gallery, London, Greater London
Closes Sat 19 Dec
Exhibition

Oasis: Photographs by Jill Furmanovsky

The Gallery Maldon, Maldon, Essex
- Solo show
- Photography
Closes Sun 20 Dec
Exhibition

Wanda and Marion Wulz: Avant-garde Photography in 20th-Century Italy

Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Photography
Closes Sun 20 Dec
Exhibition

Sabine Moritz: Lie Down in Green Pastures

Garden Museum, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Closes Sun 20 Dec
Exhibition

Bhajan Hunjan: speaking through materials

Nunnery Gallery, Bow, Greater London
Closes Sun 20 Dec
Exhibition

62nd Essex Open Art Exhibition

Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Closes Wed 23 Dec
Exhibition

Lorna Simpson

Hauser & Wirth London, London, Greater London
Closes Wed 23 Dec
Exhibition

Antony Gormley: Where

Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Printmaking
Closes Thu 24 Dec
Exhibition

Christmas Cracker Exhibition 2026

Byard Art, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Closes Thu 24 Dec
Exhibition

Maggi Hambling: Fireworks

Britten Pears Arts Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 1 Jan 2027
Exhibition

A Year: A Thousand Years: Hockney, Bayeux and the Nature of Cultural Legacy

MODO Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 2 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Bianca Raffaella: Between Heartbeats

Flowers Gallery Cork Street, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 2 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Small is Beautiful: 44th Edition

Flowers Gallery Cork Street, London, Greater London
Until 3 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Frida: The Making of an Icon

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
Until 3 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Creature Feature

Bushey Museum & Art Gallery, Bushey, Hertfordshire
Until 9 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Sky Glabush: If the wild bird could speak

Alison Jacques, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 9 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Swaying in the Wind: Frédérick Yvan Manuel Gay

The Fan Museum, Greenwich, Greater London
Until 9 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Compulsory Continuous Connectedness: rest in a networked world

Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Justin Caguiat: Change Ringing

Serpentine South, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Salman Toor: Someone Like You

The Courtauld Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Hidden Healing

North Hertfordshire Museum, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Expressions in Headwear

Wardown House, Museum and Gallery, Luton, Bedfordshire
- Group show
- Textiles
Until 10 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Katherine Hubbard: The Great Room

Studio Voltaire, Clapham, Greater London
Until 16 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Louise Giovanelli: In the Light of False Suns

White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 16 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Polar Panoramas

Polar Museum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 16 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Jaki Irvine: Five lines of song-smoke

Frith Street Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Film and video
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Ana Mendieta

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Zineb Sedira: When Words Fall Silent, Cinema Speaks

Tate Britain, London, Greater London
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Screen Portraits: Whitechapel Gallery Artists, Part 2

Whitechapel Gallery, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Film and video
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Michael Landy: Future Ruins

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, Greater London
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from the Iuchi Collection

Dulwich Picture Gallery, Dulwich, Greater London
- Touring exhibition
- Printmaking
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Frank Bowling: Seeking the Sublime

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Simon Carter: From the Landscape

Firstsite, Colchester, Essex
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2026

National Portrait Gallery, London, Greater London
- Open exhibition
- Photography
Until 17 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Liz Larner: A hard line to bend

Camden Art Centre, London, Greater London
Until 20 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Liberty Quinn: Data Melt

SPACE Ilford, Ilford, Greater London
Until 22 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Between the Keys

Daphne Oram Gallery, Canterbury, Kent
Until 23 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Alchemies: May Cockcroft, Nour Malas, Sarah Martin-Nuss

Victoria Miro, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Mixed media
Until 23 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Conrad Shawcross: Shadows of the Mechanism

Victoria Miro, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Sculpture
Until 24 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Bharti Kher at the V&A

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Sculpture
Until 24 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Yuko Mohri: In Concert

Barbican Art Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 24 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Anselm Kiefer

White Cube Bermondsey, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 24 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Soko Hwang: Flesh of Vessel

198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Herne Hill, Greater London
Until 24 Jan 2027
Exhibition

No Provenance

Heong Gallery, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 31 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Commons: A Film by David Blandy

The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury, Kent
- Solo show
- Film and video
Until 31 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Renoir and Love

National Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 31 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Painting the French Riviera

Royal Academy of Arts, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Painting
Until 31 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Amar Kanwar

Serpentine North, London, Greater London
Until 31 Jan 2027
Exhibition

Sunil Gupta: Life with a Camera, 1970 to Now

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
- Solo show
- Photography
Until 6 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Lisa Brice

Serpentine South, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 7 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Yinka Shonibare and Thomas Gainsborough: A Conversation

National Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 7 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Audrey Amiss: The Surviving Exhibitions

Wellcome Collection, London, Greater London
Until 7 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care, Spaces of Grief and Possibility

Wellcome Collection, London, Greater London
Until 13 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Christopher Le Brun: The Mind’s Weather

Lisson Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 13 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Dana Awartani

Lisson Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 14 Feb 2027
Exhibition

The 90s: Art and Fashion

Tate Britain, London, Greater London
Until 14 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Cecilia Vicuña: Living Threads

Whitechapel Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Photography
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

British Wildlife Photography Awards

Horniman Museum and Gardens, Forest Hill, Greater London
- Touring exhibition
- Photography
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

An Enamel Revolution: China and the World

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Sanlé Sory: Colour Years

The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Photography
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

William Eggleston: All that goes unnoticed

The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Photography
Until 21 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Snap Happy! How Children Became Photographers

The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Photography
Until 26 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Trackie McLeod: MONEY. SUCCESS. FAME. GLAMOUR.

OOF Gallery, Tottenham, Greater London
- Solo show
Until 28 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Robert Ryman: The Real Thing

Barbican Art Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 28 Feb 2027
Exhibition

What Remains

The Women’s Art Collection, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 28 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Polly Braden: Against the Tide

Firstsite, Colchester, Essex
- Solo show
- Photography
Until 28 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Constable to Contemporary

Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, Suffolk
Until 28 Feb 2027
Exhibition

Out of Line: Banksy and the Art of Dissent

The Minories, Colchester, Essex
Until 7 Mar 2027
Exhibition

Gathering Ground

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
Until 7 Mar 2027
Exhibition

Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrong

Hayward Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 7 Mar 2027
Exhibition

A Mughal Songbook: Art, Music and Empire

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
- Group show
- Painting
Until 7 Mar 2027
Exhibition

The Genie and Other Stories

Heath Robinson Museum, Pinner, Greater London
Until 21 Mar 2027
Exhibition

Multiplied wonders: Italian Renaissance woodcuts

British Museum, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Printmaking
Until 21 Mar 2027
Exhibition

Cosimo I de’ Medici: Art and Dynasty

The Wallace Collection, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Painting
Until 28 Mar 2027
Exhibition

Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK

William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, Greater London
Until 4 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Es Devlin: Other Worlds

Design Museum, London, Greater London
Until 11 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Still Lives

St Albans Museum + Gallery, St Albans, Hertfordshire
Until 11 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Installation
Until 11 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury

Tate Britain, London, Greater London
Until 11 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Van Eyck: The Portraits

National Gallery, London, Greater London
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 11 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Ossie Clark + Celia Birtwell

Fashion and Textile Museum, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Textiles
Until 18 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Glenn Brown: Anatomy of Trees

Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk
Until 18 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Georg Wilson: The Ancient Pulse of Germ and Birth

Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 18 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Monica Poole: Nature’s Dark Beauty

Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk
- Solo show
- Printmaking
Until 18 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Peter Blake: In the Studio

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, Ealing, Greater London
Until 25 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Metamorphoses: Porcelain Sculpture by Rachel Kneebone

The Wallace Collection, London, Greater London
Until 30 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Urushi Now: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London
Until 30 Apr 2027
Exhibition

Bushey Artist: Anthony Wildig

Bushey Museum & Art Gallery, Bushey, Hertfordshire
- Solo show
- Painting
Until 3 May 2027
Exhibition

Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action.

Tate Modern, London, Greater London
Until 3 May 2027
Exhibition

A Call to Art: William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Until 5 May 2027
Exhibition

Beyond the Streets

Saatchi Gallery, London, Greater London
Until 16 May 2027
Exhibition

American Photographs

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London
- Group show
- Photography
Until 11 Jul 2027
Exhibition

The Bayeux Tapestry

British Museum, London, Greater London
- Touring exhibition
- Textiles
Until 26 Sep 2027
Exhibition

Samuel Palmer and Modern Art

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London
Until 26 Sep 2027
Exhibition

Dimensions: Contemporary Chinese Studio Crafts

V&A South Kensington, London, Greater London

Everything listed in Essex

Exhibitions 21

Chelmsford College: What Matters Most Chelmsford
65 Years of the Munnings Art Museum Colchester
Conceal & Reveal Colchester
Duncan Grant: Worlds Through Desire: From Drawing to Cruising to DMs Colchester
Museum of the Moon Colchester
My Generation Colchester
Out of Line: Banksy and the Art of Dissent Colchester
Pictures from Private Collections Colchester
Polly Braden: Against the Tide Colchester
Simon Carter: From the Landscape Colchester
The Influence of John Constable Colchester
Double Agents Harlow
Off The Wall Harlow
Oasis: Photographs by Jill Furmanovsky Maldon
Esmond Bingham: Constructions Manningtree
Fry’s Popular Delights Saffron Walden
Olga Lehmann: A Versatile and Vivacious Artist Saffron Walden
62nd Essex Open Art Exhibition Southend-on-Sea
Between Us Southend-on-Sea
Compulsory Continuous Connectedness: rest in a networked world Southend-on-Sea
Open Call Autumn Exhibition 2026 Wivenhoe

Workshops and classes 5

Dreamlike Florals: Still Life Painting Inspired by Odilon Redon Colchester · Saturday 23 January
Monoprint Day: Texture, Gesture and Etching Press Colchester · Saturday 13 March
Paint a Monochrome Still Life Inspired by Vanessa Bell Colchester · Saturday 20 February
Sweet Impressions: Colourful Still Life Inspired by Impressionism Colchester · Saturday 27 March
Watercolour Workshop: Imaginary Landscapes Colchester · Sunday 1 November

Drawing groups 2

Chelmsford Life Drawing Chelmsford · Every other Wednesday
Essex Print Studio Life Drawing Chelmsford · Second Wednesday of the month

Towns in Essex

Colchester (15)
Chelmsford (3)
Southend-on-Sea (3)
Harlow (2)
Saffron Walden (2)
Maldon (1)
Manningtree (1)
Wivenhoe (1)

Something in Essex we are missing?

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