Rarely a year goes by without a London gallery putting on some sort of David Hockney exhibition – everybody’s just mad for the guy. And 2026 is no different, with a huge free show of Hockney art opening this week.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting will be on at the Serpentine this spring and summer, opening this coming Thursday March 12.
Here’s why, alongside a Frida Kahlo show at the Tate and a Renoir retrospective at the National Gallery, we reckon it’ll be one of the best exhibitions to see in London this year.
The 88-year-old artist’s A Year in Normandie is a 90-metre long piece that Hockney produced on his iPad during the pandemic. Made up of 220 panels depicting the changing seasons in and around his French garden, it’s inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry – which fittingly will be on display in the UK for the first time in nearly a millennium later this year – and Chinese scrolls. A Year in Normandie will be on display in the garden at Serpentine North and this will be the first time that the work is on show in London.
At the time, Hockney said of his iPad paintings: ‘I began drawing the winter trees on a new iPad. Then this virus started…
‘I went on drawing the winter trees that eventually burst into blossom. Meanwhile the virus is going mad, and many people said my drawings were a great respite from what was going on.’
The exhibition will also feature five new still lifes by Hockney alongside five new portraits depicting members of his close circle.
Bettina Korek, the Serpentine’s CEO, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, its artistic director said that the show ‘promises to be a landmark cultural moment’. The best news is that, unlike most other big name exhibitions happening in the city this year, David Hockney at the Serpentine will be completely free to see. It’s on from March 12 until August 23.
🎨 See all of the 12 best art exhibitions coming to London in 2026 here.
Plus: These are the best exhibitions on in London right now.
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