2025 may be drawing to a close, but there’s still plenty of culture to indulge in. These are the exhibitions to see in December 2025.
December calendars fill up fast, but these artists, photographers, and fashion designers are worth carving out the time for. Including rare access to a legendary film maker’s archives, and the joint force of incredible fashion designers Rei Kawakubo and Vivienne Westwood, these are the exhibitions to catch this December to see the year off in style.
London
Wes Anderson: The Archives, Design Museum, London
Wes Anderson’s characteristic visual symmetry, funky colour schemes, tongue-in-cheek exaggeration, but often serious plot lines, are known to all – avid fans or not, his films are inescapable. The Design Museum’s new exhibition is a behind-the-scenes snapshot into the incredible productions, as over 700 items from the archives are on display for the first time ever in the UK, marking the first ever retrospective of the filmmaker. The exhibition is arranged largely chronologically, sectioned out by film. In each, marvel over everything from the colourful costumes, clips from the movies, mini set replicas (the entire Darjeeling Express included), on-set BTS stills, soundtrack snippets, and all the props you could think of – from sketches, to books, type writers, perfume bottles, and even the iron tasseled keys from The Grand Budapest Hotel near a scaled model of the entire hotel. As co-curator and chief curatorial director of the Design Museum, Lucia Savi explains, Wes Anderson’s “extraordinary archive is testament to his unique cinematic approach,” and this exhibition is a wonderful prompt to revisit your favourites from his work.
Lee Miller, Tate Britain
Urgent, arresting, and startlingly elegant, once you discover Lee Miller’s photographs they don’t ever escape your mind. This eponymous exhibition at Tate Britain is the most extensive retrospective ever of photojournalist Lee Miller’s work, with over 250 vintage and modern prints – including those never displayed before. Kate Winslet’s captivating performance in award-winning 2024 movie Lee helped to reimagine the varied life of a figure who is now one of the most influential artists of the early 20th century. It’s hard to imagine how Miller’s World War II photography lay undiscovered in her attic until after her death, as the photographs inside these boxes would change the course of photojournalism for the remainder of the century. Miller lived a life of dichotomies: a Vogue-model-turned-photographer, she swapped posing as the subject of the lens to the author of the photographic gaze, and with her fine-tuned eye and bold demeanour, caught pivotable moments of war – and most importantly, the individuals affected.
Cecil Beaton: A Fashionable World, National Portrait Gallery
Dubiously dubbed ‘The King of Vogue’, it’s difficult to open a vintage copy of the pioneering fashion magazine without stumbling across the enigmatic fashion photography of Cecil Beaton. At once a fashion illustrator, fashion photographer, costume designer, social caricaturist and writer, Beaton’s work took the 20th-century British and American fashion scene by storm, appearing in everything from the cover of Vogue to the Oscar-winning film My Fair Lady. From 1939, Beaton worked as a royal photographer, modernising the way the monarchy was viewed and photographed in a way that would remain for generations.
Chantal Joffe: I Remember, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
“When I am making them, it’s almost as if I am existing in that past,” Chantal Joffe muses about her extraordinary (and large scale) oil portraits. A child in their bedroom, a family on their sofa, Matrushka dolls – each painting shows a memory, or a sense of self. The exhibition title, I Remember, comes from the late American writer, Joe Brainard’s memoir which Joffe describes as allowing her to access her own memories to help inform her work. A wonderful book (Painting Writing Texting) chronicling the relationship between painter Chantal Joffe and writer Olivia Laing via essays and pictures also accompanies the exhibition.
Marie Antoinette Style, V&A, London
Versaille court shoes, Rococo ruffles, the coupe glass, cake. What do they have in common? Marie Antoinette, the eighteenth century Queen of France with an enduring modern legacy, of course. All the fashion in varying shades of pastel, shoes (many Manolo Blahniks included), cake, decorative arts, film, and more that Marie Antoinette’s timeless appeal has inspired are on display this at London’s V&A. Minimalism be gone, this much-anticipated exhibition is set to be one for the ages. Let them eat cake!
Dirty Looks: Desire And Decay In Fashion, Barbican
What is conventional beauty in an industry that seems to change its mind every minute, every season? How have western beauty standards defined what is seen as beautiful? The Barbican’s new fashion and beauty exhibition rebels against convention within both industries by uniting the work of over 60 designers (both established and emerging) who have each sought to challenge how we perceive art, ourselves, clothes, make-up, and more. Items designed by Alexander McQueen, Maison Margiela, and Vivienne Westwood accompany installations and commissions by Elena Velez, Paolo Carzana, Michaela Stark and others.
A Story of South Asian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London
The conversations between artists – of all disciplines – is so important to the lineage of art. And this is a thread that runs throughout The Royal Academy of Art’s latest exhibition. In 1949, sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee was born into post-Independence Bombay (Mumbai) to parents (Leela Mukherjee and Benode Behari Mukherjee) who were influential artists themselves. This would start a lifetime of creative friendships, collaborations, and conversations, each honouring India’s artistic traditions in unique ways by Mukherjee and her contemporaries. A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle is the first time Mukherjee’s work is on display amongst those who both informed it and were inspired by it; approximately one hundred works mark one hundred years of art, drawn out via sculpture, painting, drawing, textiles, ceramics, prints.
The Long Now, Saatchi Gallery, London
Where can we find a place for long-term culture in our fast-paced world of consumerism? Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition spotlights 40 years of contemporary art via a mix of landmark works by established artists and new commissions by the clever voices of ‘now’. Each piece is ambitious, and challenges how we think about life, culture, ourselves, long-term. There is a special array of artists exhibiting throughout, from Richard Wilson and Jenny Saville to Martine Poppe, Alex Katz, and Jo Dennis.
David Hockney: Some Very, Very, Very New Paintings Not Yet Shown in Paris, Annely Juda, London
Despite the painter’s landmark exhibition earlier this year in Paris, it’s impossible to feel Hockney-ed out, especially when, at age 88, he is still producing incredible work. Annely Juda gallery is new to Hanover Square, and opens with – just like the exhibition title describes – six never-seen-before paintings by David Hockney, each painted this very year.
Turner & Constable: Rivals And Originals, Tate Modern, London
J.M.W Turner and John Constable are two British artists who need very little introduction, especially at the Tate where a generous portfolio of their work is hung, available to enjoy year round. However, in this special landmark exhibition to celebrate the 250th anniversary of both artists’ births, an impressive selection of both their works will be hung in dialogue with one another, displaying their long-lasting impact on British landscape painting as well as each other’s legacies.
Strike a Pose! 100 Years of the Photo Booth: The Photographers' Gallery
2025 is a year that marks many things, among them being the 100th anniversary of the photo booth. In the 1950s and 60s, how would you take a selfie with friends or a loved one? By heading down to the station, fair, or store and snapping a few in the photo booth. Often, we still do. Strike a Pose! curates an archive of these both candid and staged moments – including the cute and the kitsch – and highlights how, even 100 years on, photo booths have retained their charm.
Costume Couture: Sixty Years Of Cosprop, Fashion And Textile Museum
What would a film become if it didn’t have fashion? Hard to imagine, right? That’s because legendary London-based costume designers and specialists Cosprop has transformed how fashion (and as a result, history) interacts with the cinema we watch. Since 1965 when it was founded by Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer John Bright, Cosprop has specialised in period costume, spanning performances across film, television, and theatre including A Room With a View, Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey … the list goes on. As important to the film industry as its actors or its set design, costume is having a well-deserved moment at the Fashion and Textile Museum, where you can spot incredible costumes that have never been displayed in public before.
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Royal Academy of Arts
Expansive in scale, intricate in detail, and drenched with atmosphere, the paintings by contemporary American artist Kerry James Marshall are nothing short of phenomenal. Seventy of these works are on display this autumn and winter at Royal Academy of Arts, each characterised by their foregrounding of Black figures and lives – past, present, and even future – writing these often forgotten subjects right into the heart of modern art.
Gianni Versace Retrospective, London Bridge Arches, London
We’re all a bit crazy for fashion exhibitions, especially the immersive kind. In London, we’ve already enjoyed the Gucci Cosmos at 180 Studios, a retrospective of Vogue Magazine at Lightroom, and Fashion House exhibitions including Chanel at the V&A. Following their popular Marilyn exhibition spotlighting the (platinum) blonde bombshell, London Bridge Arches are now host to an informative exhibit documenting the sartorial impact of Gianni Versace on the fashion industry. In this brick archway-designed space, the late designer’s legacy is laid out in the form of Versace scarves in the brand’s signature golds, reds, and blacks, alongside sketches of some of the brand’s most influential designs, full Versace looks, and photographs of the original supermodels sporting the garments.
Theatre Picasso, Tate Modern, London
One hundred years ago, Spanish painter Picasso – who would later become one of the most globally renowned painters in modern history to date – painted his seminal work Three Dancers. Theatre and the intricacies of performance isn’t often uncovered in the static art that is painting, however, across this exhibition, 50 works by Picasso divulge into the striking imagery, costume, and pose of theatre productions that inspired the artist throughout his career. These works, all with this common thread and staged by contemporary artist Wu Tsang and curator Enrique Fuenteblanca, will be on stage at the Tate’s Theatre Picasso.
Blitz: The Club That Shaped The 80s, Design Museum
It’s the 1980s: New York has the glamorous Studio54, London has the androgynous, underground Blitz Club. Partied at by the Blitz Kids who were at the heart of the city’s punk and soul scenes, amalgamating inspiration from pop artists, cabaret, avant-garde fashion, cinema, and more, the Blitz Club made a lasting impact on London’s underground scene. There’s no doubt that it was a place of artistic creation and intrigue. Wonder what it truly felt like to step through the Covent Garden club doors? London’s Design Museum is revisiting the club’s famous atmosphere with music, flamboyant fashion, art, film, and graphics, each developed in collaboration with leading ‘Blitz Kids’ themselves, including personal items and artist artefacts that have never been displayed before.
Emily Kam Kgnwarray, Tate Modern, London
Hopping quite literally across the world is the work of Emily Kam Kgnwarray (1914 to 1996), marking the artist’s first ever major solo exhibition in Europe. Aboriginal art and culture is a core part of modern (and historic) Australia, and Kgnwarray’s art immortalises many of these sacred ceremonies and spiritual ways of life via her large-scale acrylic paintings on canvas and batik textiles. Kgnwarray was a senior Anmatyerr woman from the Sandover region in the Northern Territory of Australia, and delineates her heritage and lived experiences (including the ecology of the land she painted within, her experiences of a woman, the song and dance rituals of her people, and more) via vibrant colours, myriad textures, and a strong sense of aliveness. Within less than a decade, Kgnwarray produced thousands of artworks, immense in scale, detail, and meaning, that now form important contributions to the art world as well as immortalise ancient rituals, dialogues, and more. Some of these artworks have been acquired from private collections and reunited for the first time since the 1990s.
New Opening: V&A East Storehouse, London
Art shouldn’t always be contained to gallery walls, and especially not inside archives that lay preserved but unseen. At least that’s what the V&A believes. In a world first (in terms of size and scale) the V&A opened the V&A East Storehouse in May, housing over half a million works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, print, fashion, decorative arts … the list goes on (and on) across four expansive levels. This is where you’ll now find much of the V&A’s archives, except they’re open to the public. You’ll see Sir Elton John’s stage costumes, stage set designs by Pablo Picasso, and recordings of live David Bowie performances (almost) at your fingertips. General admission is free and does not require booking, however you will need to book the “Order an Object” service which allows you to examine the archival pieces you wish to look at up close. The V&A East also opened up the David Bowie Centre in September 2025 housing everything from the megastar’s old clothing to music boxes to objects selected by Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party.
Europe
Annie Leibovitz: Wonderland, MOP Foundation, Spain
Rhianna, Penelope Cruz, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zendaya … the long A-list of Annie Leibovitz’s subjects is nothing short of extraordinary. Much like her photos. American portrait photographer and longtime Vogue contributor, Annie Leibovitz is a fashion industry stalwart, with over five decades of capturing the zeitgeist through her lens. You only need to glance at a few images to understand the “wonderland” scenarios she creates, which is at the heart of the exhibition. Both a film and publication accompany the exhibition, which includes interviews with Leibovitz’s close collaborators.
Sarah van Rij — Atlas of Echoes, MEP, Paris
How do you document city life beyond just the visual? The clever work of self-taught artist and Dutch photographer Sarah van Rij merges photographs with collage to capture a poetic and more emotional side to city life. Everyday life becomes theatre here, as shadows or fragments of clothing or the ground show more than a whole image ever could. Each of the collages are made from van Rij’s own photographs to show how art can be repurposed into different modes, while the exhibition coincides with the recent release of her first ever monograph, also titled Atlas of Echoes. While visiting the MEP, stop by the dual exhibition dedicated to photographers Edward Weston and Tyler Mitchell, whose work is separated by a century but united by their tenderness and subtle poetry.
Berthe Weill: Art Dealer Of The Parisian Avant-Garde, Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris
Art dealer Berthe Weill first opened a gallery in Montmartre in 1901. The gallery spotlighted her contemporaries, those breaking out in Paris’ turbulent art world, under the slogan “place aux jeunes” meaning “make way for the young” – a generous priority given the space’s little funding. These young artists are now some of the most celebrated today – Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse – as well as many female artists, Jacqueline Marval, Hermine David, Suzanne Valadon. However, Weill’s name largely slipped out of sight, until now. Berthe Weill’s enormous contribution to art history (fauvism, cubism, and beyond) is now celebrated and on display in Paris.
Armani Prive 2005-2025, Armani/ Silos, Milan
Deconstructed silhouettes, relaxed tailoring on mens’ suiting, sober elegance that never compromised on beauty nor comfort: Giorgio Armani changed the way we dress, on and off the runway, on film screens, on the red carpet, and in day-to-day life. The seismic influence that Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani imposed on the fashion industry (and beyond!) across the past 50 years was felt all at once after the news of his death. Fashionphile or not, Armani is a name known to all, for revolutionising what fashion means to both the industry and its much wider audience. Still in 2025, the late designer strayed away from fashion’s incessant thirst for short-lived trends with his eponymous labels, instead focussing on timeless pieces that constantly resurface. This exhibition arrives at a poignant time; curated by Armani himself, the exhibition revisits his 2005 exhibition in Paris, including haute couture, ready-to-wear, sketches, letters, and more, across all four floors of the gallery space.
Eternal Elegance – The Timeless Photography Of Gian Paolo Barbieri, 29 Arts In Progress, Milan
The first major exhibition of this fashion photographer’s work since his death late last year is heading to Milan’s cultural hub, 29 Arts In Progress (who have also curated the exhibition). Gian Paolo Barbieri captured the golden age of fashion with his lens: all key modern photography collections in museums around the world house his photographs and the likes of Monica Belluci, Vivienne Westwood, Donatella Versace, Isa Stoppi – and all the supermodels you can name – grace his photographs. The influence of his style and work is canonical. Gian Paolo Barbieri introduced a sensual mode of fashion photography, one that disrupted the quite formal fashion photography that graced the pages of mid-century glossies, humanising his subjects while also curating cinematic visuals that stand out with their drama. This exhibition houses many unseen photographs from the 1960s to early 2000s in a rare back-stage glimpse into this sparkling era.
Tilda Swinton – Ongoing, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
From Narnia’s White Witch, to the murdered wealthy dowager of The Grand Budapest Hotel to the poignant The Room Next Door, Tilda Swinton embodies each role with a zest that leaves it difficult to imagine it ever being performed by someone else. The actor’s memorable influence on modern film around the world – and as a result, her profound mark on popular culture – is being celebrated this season at Amsterdam’s film museum. This exhibition marks the actress’s ability to transform not just on film, but in photography, fashion, and art, by spotlighting Swinton’s creative collaborations with several of her friends and fellow creatives, from Luca Guadagnino to Derek Jarman to Tim Walker and beyond.
GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between, MoMu, Antwerp
Girlhood is something to cherish, something to celebrate, for its innocence, for its tenderness, and for its fragility. MoMu’s latest exhibition focusses on this fleeting state of being that we refer to time and time again, one that has become immortalised across popular culture via film and photography. MoMu’s latest exhibition displays the art that finds girlhood – in its many states of being, from loneliness to friendship, innocence to rebellion to boredom – through art by Louise Bourgeois, Sofia Coppola, Fumiko Imano, Martin Margiela, and many more.
America
Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, MoMA, New York City
The concept of a ‘photographic portrait’ and how it has been used to influence conversations around Pan-African identity, subjectivity, and art is at the heart of MoMA New York’s upcoming exhibition. Comprised largely of gifted modern and contemporary African art from art collector Jean Pigozzi, the collection comprises of photographs by Samuel Fosso, Silvia Rosi, and more. This exhibition is an expansive, transatlantic foray into the politically and culturally charged role of photographic portraiture, and how these canonical works present Africa and Pan-Africanism as ‘a political idea’.
Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens, Brooklyn Museum, New York
The late Malian photographer Seydou Keita documented decades of West African political upheaval through the lens of his camera. Each photograph portrays a vivid image of life in West Africa during the mid-twentieth century: cinematic, poised, and photojournalist to a documentary-style degree in each photograph’s real subjects. The silver photographic prints are on display at the Brooklyn Museum, marking the most expansive North African exhibition of Keita’s work.
Untitled (America)
Eight decades of American artists from the Whitney Museum’s expansive archives and recent acquisitions come together in this newly opened blockbuster exhibition. The show homages founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s style of collecting and curating American art, putting works by incredible artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Georgia O’Keefe, Mark Rothko, Alma Thomas and Andy Warhol in conversation with one another dating from 1900 to the 1980s. How to summarise this incredible expanse of legacies, art styles, and cultural history in an exhibition title? The Whitney Museum has aptly opted for “Untitled” (America), which also references the light-based installation artwork of the same name by Felix Gonzalez-Torres that illuminates a part of the exhibition. As Gonzales-Torres himself explains, “the America that I now know is still a place of light, a place of opportunities, of risks, of justice, of racism, of injustice, of hunger and excess of pleasure and growth”.
InSight: Photos And Stories From The Archives, National Museum Of The American Indian, Washington D.C.
Selected from more than half a million photographs in the National Museum of the American Indian’s archives (part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums), Insight: Photos and Stories from the Archives offers a rare and personal view of Indigenous people in America throughout time. Each photograph represents a personal story from the community, and most have been donated by families over the past few decades. Curated by three of the museum’s archivists (Emily Moazami, Rachel Menyuk, Nathan Sowry) this exhibition represents an incredibly important part of American history, and is a celebration, commemoration, and appreciation of the people who made it.
And Beyond
Westwood Kawakubo, National Gallery Of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Fashion against the status quo. That’s really what united these two incredible fashion designers who, despite growing up in different countries and cultures, used fashion to challenge how we think and talk about taste, style, gender, beauty. Over 140 of Vivienne Westwood (1941 to 2022) and Rei Kawakubo (b.1942) ground-breaking designs have been flown across the world especially for this exhibition. Both Comme des Garçons and Vivienne Westwood encapsulated everything from the 1970s punk revolution to the shifting infatuation with the body, and the role of gender in design via clothes – which this exhibition captures, theme by theme, alongside a variety of the designers’ historical reference materials, photography, film, and more.
The Opening Of The Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Egypt
Perhaps the most anticipated museum opening of the decade, the Grand Egyptian Museum – the largest in the world dedicated to a single civilisation – opened its doors early this month. Tutankhamun’s tomb is on display in full (tomb, throne, chariots, mask, and all) to the public for the first time amongst a staggering 100,000 other artefacts. Positioned on a desert plateau formed by the Nile thousands of years ago, the enormous project and its clever layout – including a perfect viewpoint of Giza’s pyramids, a six-storey floorplan that journeys visitors chronologically through the space, and a special use of natural light – is the brainchild of visionary architects heneghan peng architects.
Afra Al Dhaheri: Restless Circle, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE
The Sharjah Art Foundation, based in Sharjah, UAE, was founded to support artists and creative voices from the local regions via exhibitions, grants, art residencies, and the Sharjah Biennial. Currently showing is the multi-medium work by Emirati artist Afra Al Dhaheri to mark Afra’s first institutional solo show. On display, find textile-based installation works that encourage the viewer to slow down and appreciate the rhythm, repetition, and detail that goes into each artwork. Each piece also draws in references from the local flora and fauna.
Lead image: Sarah Jessica Parker, The Plaza Hotel, New York City,
2005. © Annie Leibovitz
We may earn a commission if you buy something from any affiliate links on our site.
Any Questions or Tips to add?