Exhibitions

FRANCIS BACON:

MAN AND BEAST

Bringing together 45 paintings, including his last as well as a powerful trio of bullfights, this exhibition, curated by Bacon’s friend Michael Peppiatt, examines his fascination with animals and humankind’s bestial instincts.

RA, London W1 (royalacademy.org. uk), Jan 30-April 18

JEAN DUBUFFET

The first major British show in more than half a century for the provocative post-war French artist who attacked conventional ideals of beauty, and experimented by mixing paint with pebbles, coal dust and shards of glass.

Barbican Art Gallery, London EC2 (barbican.org.uk), Feb 11-May 23

EPIC IRAN

More than 300 objects, including stunning sculptures, carpets and ceramics, spanning five millennia of Iranian history.

V&A, London SW7 (vam.ac.uk),

Feb 13-Aug 30

DURER’S JOURNEYS

Exhibition meets travelogue in this clever show chronicling the journeys to the Alps, Venice, and the Low Countries undertaken by the German Renaissance artist. National Gallery, London WC2 (nationalgallery.org.uk),

March 6-June 13

BRITISH ART SHOW 9

Organised every five years, the country’s biggest touring exhibition of contemporary art provides a definitive primer on the most exciting emerging talents. Wolverhampton Art Gallery (wolverhamptonart.org.uk),

March 6-May 30, then touring

DAVID HOCKNEY: THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING, NORMANDY, 2020 More than 100 joyous pictures, produced on his iPad by that naturalborn optimist, David Hockney, while holed up at home in France last spring, surrounded by a fouracre field of fruit trees.

Royal Academy of Arts, London W1 (royalacademy.org.uk),

March 27-Aug 22

THE MAKING OF RODIN

While Rodin is known for his finished bronzes and marbles, this show – mounted in collaboration with the Musée Rodin in Paris – focuses on his creative processes, by foregrounding his electrifying skill at modelling materials such as clay and plaster.

Tate Modern, London SE1 (tate.org. uk), April 29-Oct 31

NERO

A stain on Rome’s glorious history – or a much-maligned leader whose achievements have been forgotten? This mouth-watering exhibition challenges the standard view of Nero, who infamously, during the Great Fire of AD 64, fiddled while Rome burned.

British Museum, London WC1 (britishmuseum.org), May 27-Oct 24

MARINA ABRAMOVIC:

AFTER LIFE

Work by this glamorous pioneer of performance art, whose show at New York’s MoMA in 2010 was a sensation, is typically intense: one 1974 piece culminated in a loaded gun being held to her head.

RA, London W1 (royalacademy.org. uk), Sept 25-Dec 12

HOGARTH AND EUROPE Pugnacious and patriotic, Hogarth is often seen as a quintessentially British artist – but this major exhibition presents him alongside his continental peers, to “demonstrate exchanges, parallels and sympathies”.

Tate Britain, London SW1 (tate.org. uk), Nov 3-March 20 2022

THE COURTAULD GALLERY Following a multi-million-pound transformation, the Courtauld, home to masterpieces such as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, reopens. Look out for the spectacular Great Room, one of Somerset House’s largest spaces. Courtauld Gallery, London WC2 (courtauld.ac.uk), late 2021

Pilgrim’s progress: Dürer’s Madonna and Child c 1496-99 makes its first UK visit for the National Gallery’s Dürer’s Journeys