David Hockney to Light Up London at Serpentine Gallery in Landmark 2026 Exhibition

London is set to welcome one of its most anticipated art gallery exhibitions in years. In spring 2026, the Serpentine Galleries will host the first ever solo show by David Hockney, one of Britain’s most celebrated living artists. Running from 12 March to 23 August 2026 at Serpentine North, this exhibition promises to be a cultural landmark for galleries, British artists, and lovers of London art alike.

The Serpentine Gallery: A Fitting Stage

Nestled in Hyde Park, the Serpentine Galleries have long been a hub for pushing boundaries in art, technology, architecture, and public engagement. Its two sites—Serpentine South and Serpentine North—have consistently hosted ambitious exhibitions. The choice of Serpentine North for Hockney’s first solo display there underscores both the gallery's commitment to contemporary British art and its ability to host large-scale works that demand immersive space. The fact that this exhibition will be free to the public aligns with Serpentine’s mission to make art accessible.

David Hockney: The Artist, His Moment

Born in Bradford in 1937, David Hockney has built a six-decade career that has constantly evolved—painting, photography, print, iPad drawings, installations—always with colour, nature, light, and perception at its heart. His recent works have amplified his engagement with digital media and his lifelong interest in the cycles of nature, time, and light.

In recent years, Hockney’s popularity has been fuelled by major retrospectives—most notably his expansive show in Paris that spanned his long career with over 400 works—and by renewed interest in his digital works made during lockdown. Londoners will recognise this trajectory: Tate Britain’s 2017 retrospective drew huge crowds, while more recent exhibitions at major galleries have shown that Hockney continues to capture the public imagination.

A Year in Normandy – The Frieze & Major Works

The star piece of the Serpentine exhibition will be A Year in Normandy (2020-21), a ninety-metre-long frieze created on iPad, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry. It documents the changing seasons at Hockney’s former studio in Normandy, made up of some 220 drawings. The frieze is designed as a continuous sequence of spring, summer, autumn, winter, intended to be walked past, experienced in one fluid visual journey.

Alongside that will be Moon Room, reflecting Hockney’s fascination with the cycle of light and passing time, and digital paintings drawn from the Sunrise body of work. These newer works emphasise Hockney’s ongoing blending of technology and traditional themes in British art: nature, light, landscape, and perception.

David Hockney Normandy iPad painting frieze coming to London

Why This Exhibition Matters

• For London & Galleries: Hosting this exhibition at Serpentine reinforces London’s position as one of the world’s great art capitals. It demonstrates the role that galleries play not only in preserving art history but in supporting living artists whose work continues to evolve.

• For British Artists: Hockney embodies a thread through British art that spans Modernism, Pop, the rise of digital media, and the renewed valuation of landscape and nature. This exhibition will be a reminder of the long legacy and global reach of British artists.

• At a Time of Renewal: The exhibition arrives when public appetite for Hockney is strong. His recent retrospective in Paris was well-received; audiences remain drawn to his vibrant colours, digital experiments, and deeply human perspective on the natural world. A Year in Normandy in particular, with its echo of the Bayeux Tapestry, offers both shelter and celebration—beauty made from observation, offered without fanfare.

• Accessibility and Shared Experience: The free admission policy at Serpentine ensures that this exhibition is not just another destination for the art-elite but something that can be shared widely. That enhances its role in London's arts ecology.

What This Means for London Exhibition Visitors

For anyone planning a trip to see this London exhibition:

• From 12 March to 23 August 2026, Serpentine North will be the place to see Hockney’s recent major works and A Year in Normandy.

• Expect immersive scale: the frieze alone will dominate walls and time, asking viewers not just to look, but to pause, stroll, reflect.

• The themes are timely: light, nature, seasons, cycles of renewal—important in our moment of climate anxiety, global uncertainty, interest in slowing down.

The Serpentine exhibition marks a peak in David Hockney’s current moment of visibility. It is a chance for Londoners and visitors alike to engage with the work of a British artist at the height of his powers—one whose art bridges technology and tradition, whose vision draws on nature, perception, and colour. For Serpentine Gallery, it is both a celebration of and a fresh platform for Hockney’s ever-evolving practice. London will be richer for it—and so will the wider world of art galleries and lovers of inspiring, life-affirming work.