Summer 2026 is shaping up to be one to remember, what with the glorious weather, international sporting competitions and a flurry of thought-provoking exhibitions. Whether you want to spend the day outdoors musing at monumental sculpture or getting up close to blooming tapestries, these are our pick of the bunch.
‘Paint! Pattern! Print!’, Fashion and Textile Museum
You may not have heard of sisters Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell before, but a new exhibition on show until 13 September at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum sets out to correct that. It is dedicated to the siblings’ exuberant fabric designs – experimental and innovative from the start, they revolutionised the design landscape in the 1960s with their colourful, free-flowing style. Their patterns were picked up by Liberty and Habitat, as well as key players in the fashion industry such as Yves Saint Laurent, who used gypsy folk-inspired designs by Collier Campbell as the inspiration for his first ever off-the-peg collection. fashiontextilemuseum.org
‘Anish Kapoor’ at Hayward Gallery
Head to one of London’s great contemporary-art destinations before 19 October to see this exhibition of Anish Kapoor’s work. Billed as a centrepiece of the Southbank Centre’s 75th-anniversary summer programme (the landmark was recently granted listed status), the show sweeps across five decades of work, from cavernous void sculptures and mesmerising mirror pieces to monumental new installations that fill rooms with colour, form and strange, alluring scale. Expect an immersive experience and optical illusions that challenge perception and delight the senses. southbankcentre.co.uk
‘Lynn Chadwick’ at Houghton Hall
One of Britain’s most celebrated post-war artists, Lynn Chadwick created sculptures that featured dynamic beasts, kinetic forms and paired figures. Thirty of his impressive works, including Beast Alerted I (pictured), will be displayed throughout the sprawling estate. This all-encompassing exhibition (2 May-4 October) will look back on four decades of the artist’s career, showcasing the previously unseen and rarely shown alongside his best-known creations. houghtonhall.com
‘Nigo: From Japan With Love’, Design Museum
The first retrospective dedicated to the Japanese designer, creative director and father of hype culture brings together more than 700 objects spanning fashion, music and design. Treasures from Nigo’s personal archive are displayed on a floor-to-ceiling ‘Haller’ system by USM, with highlights including rare early A Bathing Ape pieces and hand-thrown ceramics made by the designer himself. And if the museum is the new place to shop, as The Guardian recently suggested, there’s another reason to visit. You’ll be able to purchase exclusive Nigo X Nike apparel, with pieces dropping throughout the summer until the exhibition ends on 4 October. designmuseum.org
‘In Bloom’, Ashmolean Oxford
A potpourri of works celebrating the beauty of plants and flowers, from contemporary botanical paintings to spectacular tapestries designed from the perspective of pollinating insects, comes together in this extraordinary exhibition (until 16 August). Part visual documentary, part historical analysis, it traces the routes that some of the nation’s most beloved plants took to get here, through stories of exploration, exchange, passion and discovery. Finally, stop off at the Ashmolean Museum Shop, where you’ll find a botanical-themed collection. ashmolean.org
