London spring shows
London's current exhibition lineup is leaning into rediscovery and spectacle — forgotten female artists, fairytale-themed shows, and a big fashion retrospective are all being spotlighted for April audiences (thenudge.com).
The Royal Academy is presenting the first UK solo show of 17th‑century painter Michaelina Wautier from 27 March to 21 June 2026, bringing together roughly 25 works to reframe her place in Baroque art. (royalacademy.org.uk)) Whitechapel Gallery’s Veronica Ryan: Multiple Conversations runs 1 April–14 June 2026 and encompasses more than 100 works spanning four decades, including newly resurfaced pieces from the 1980s. (whitechapelgallery.org)) Scholars and critics trace the Wautier revival to a string of recent reattributions and rediscoveries that prompted the Royal Academy’s survey and renewed international loans. (theartnewspaper.com)) The British Library’s family‑focused Fairy Tales exhibition opened 27 March and runs until 23 August 2026, with peak tickets priced at £13.50 and off‑peak at £11.50 and dedicated accessibility provisions for blind and partially sighted visitors. (events.bl.uk)) The V&A’s major fashion show Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art opened in late March 2026 and will remain on view into November, assembling several hundred objects to map Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1920s origins through the house’s contemporary revival. (vam.ac.uk)) A separate spring blockbuster at The King’s Gallery, “Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style,” opens in April 2026 and displays roughly 200 items from the late monarch’s wardrobe, about half of them never exhibited publicly before. (rct.uk))
