One of the best things about living in London, apart from having somewhere new to eat every week, is how much art and culture you can experience without spending a penny.

Some of the world’s biggest museums and galleries are completely free to enter, including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the V&A, the British Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. As well as their permanent collections, you’ll often find brilliant temporary exhibitions covering everything from fashion and photography to music, design and social history.

It’s worth looking beyond the obvious names, too. Smaller galleries, libraries and cultural spaces regularly host some of the most interesting free exhibitions in London, while places such as Canary Wharf, Regent’s Park and Trafalgar Square turn the city itself into an outdoor gallery.

Whether you’re planning a cultural day out, looking for something affordable to do this weekend or simply want an excuse to wander around somewhere beautiful, these are the best free exhibitions in London to have on your radar.

Free Exhibitions in London to Visit Now

1996: A Celebration of the Wildest Year of Britain’s Wildest Decade

If the words Cool Britannia immediately transport you back to platform trainers, Britpop and a Union Jack dress, this free Barbican exhibition will be pure nostalgia.

1996: A Celebration of the Wildest Year of Britain’s Wildest Decade looks back at the year London seemed to be at the centre of absolutely everything: music, fashion, football, politics and art.

Curated by author, broadcaster and former Sun editor Dominic Mohan, the exhibition brings together original Spice Girls costumes, previously unseen Oasis memorabilia and photography by Jill Furmanovsky and Derek Ridgers. You’ll also find personal items belonging to figures from the decade’s club and dance-music scenes, including Paul Oakenfold, Dave Pearce and Judge Jules.

It’s a fun little time capsule, and possibly your last chance to catch it before it closes.

Dates: Until 19 September 2026
Location: Barbican Music Library, Barbican Centre, London
Entry: Free
More information: Barbican

Frieze Sculpture 2026

Frieze Sculpture has returned to Regent’s Park, which means you can experience a little of Frieze season without buying a ticket—or pretending you understand the art market.

Curated by Fatoş Üstek for the fourth time, the 2026 edition explores the idea of hybridity. It features work by 11 international artists, including Angel Otero, Conrad Shawcross, Tarini Sethi and Ivana Bašić.

Rather than treating every sculpture as an entirely separate object, this year’s display encourages visitors to see the works as one connected collection, linking different materials, stories and communities with the park’s natural environment.

It’s an easy exhibition to incorporate into a relaxed London walk, especially while the weather is still being reasonably cooperative.

Frieze Sculpture also forms part of London Sculpture Week, taking place from 19-27 September 2026. The programme connects several public-art projects across the capital, including the Fourth Plinth, East Bank, Sculpture in the City and The Line.

Dates: 16 September–1 November 2026
Location: Regent’s Park, London
Entry: Free
More information: Frieze Sculpture

Childhood in War

The Imperial War Museum has opened the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to exploring how children experience war.

Childhood in War follows young people’s stories from the First World War to conflicts taking place today. The exhibition includes interactive displays, a Second World War evacuee train carriage, recreations of twentieth-century wartime games and a reconstructed Cold War kitchen and living room.

It also examines the role books and storytelling have played in helping people understand children’s experiences of conflict, featuring work by writers including Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Deborah Ellis.

Alongside its historical material, the exhibition draws attention to the millions of children currently living in areas affected by conflict, including Ukraine, Afghanistan and Sudan.

This is likely to be a moving and, at times, difficult exhibition, but it sounds like an important one.

Dates: Until 28 February 2027
Location: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
Entry: Free
More information: Imperial War Museum

Tenderness and Rage

The Wellcome Collection is one of London’s most reliable places for thought-provoking free exhibitions, and Tenderness and Rage looks set to be one of its most powerful.

The exhibition explores HIV and AIDS, from the height of the UK epidemic during the 1980s and 1990s to the continuing global impact of HIV today. Through photography, film and archive material, it shares stories of protest, activism, community and care.

At the centre of the exhibition are two photographic series by artist Gideon Mendel. The Ward documents the lives of patients in AIDS wards at Middlesex Hospital in London, while Through Positive Eyes centres the voices of HIV activists around the world.

It’s an emotional subject, but the exhibition appears to approach it with humanity as well as honesty.

Dates: Until 30 May 2027
Location: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
Entry: Free
More information: Wellcome Collection

Lost Music Venues

Anyone who loves London’s music history, or enjoys saying that the city’s nightlife used to be better, should add this free V&A display to their list.

Lost Music Venues explores the cultural legacy of British venues that have closed, and the role these spaces played in launching artists, forming communities and shaping nightlife.

More than 150 objects connected to around 50 venues are on display, including gig posters, membership cards, club photography, band merchandise and fashion. Over half of the objects were sourced through a public call-out, which gives the exhibition a lovely sense of personal history.

Highlights include handwritten Oasis lyrics from a tour bus, a Blur set list, a pager once used to monitor noise at The Haçienda and a note of support for the Rainbow Theatre from Joan Baez. There are also flyers from Plastic People, a Vivienne Westwood club outfit and a poster from an early Banksy exhibition held at The Arches.

Essentially, it’s a nostalgic rummage through Britain’s lost dance floors, music halls and sticky-floored institutions.

Dates: Until 30 October 2027
Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Entry: Free
More information: V&A

The Lady in Blue at the Fourth Plinth

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth has previously displayed everything from a giant blue cockerel to an enormous swirl of whipped cream topped with a drone. Its latest resident is Lady in Blue by New York artist Tschabalala Self.

The blue and bronze sculpture pays tribute to the metropolitan woman. Rather than depicting a monarch, military figure or nobleman, Self’s “everywoman” celebrates an ordinary person moving through the city.

The figure is shown confidently striding forward, representing a collective future approached with purpose and ambition.

You don’t need to plan an entire day around it, but it’s well worth seeing if you’re visiting the National Gallery, Covent Garden or central London.

Dates: On display from 10 September 2026
Location: Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
Entry: Free

Free London Exhibitions Opening Soon

The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon

Few items of clothing are as recognisable (or quite as London) as the Burberry trench coat. To celebrate the fashion house’s 170th anniversary, the V&A is opening a free display dedicated to its history.

The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon begins with Thomas Burberry’s invention of cotton gabardine in 1879 before exploring the design details that made the coat famous, including its storm flap, checked lining and detachable throat latch.

The exhibition will feature objects from the Burberry archive that have never been publicly displayed before, including early twentieth-century catalogues and a trench once worn by fashion designer Hardy Amies.

It will finish with 19 runway looks from the past 25 years, including designs created under former Burberry creative directors Christopher Bailey and Daniel Lee.

This display is also a preview of something much bigger: the V&A and Burberry are working together on a permanent Burberry Gallery, which is expected to open in 2028 as part of the museum’s redesigned fashion spaces.

Dates: 21 September 2026–3 January 2027
Location: Prince Consort Gallery, V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Entry: Free
More information: V&A

Freddie Mercury: Splendid Things

This autumn, eight outfits worn by Freddie Mercury are going on display at the V&A, and you can see them completely free.

Freddie Mercury: Splendid Things has been timed to coincide with what would have been the Queen frontman’s eightieth year. Rather than being contained within one gallery, the exhibition will unfold across six locations within the museum’s permanent collection.

The outfits trace different points in Mercury’s career, from the monochrome look worn during an early Queen performance at Imperial College, which later appeared on the cover of the band’s debut album—to the clothing from his final stage appearance with Queen at Knebworth in 1986.

Seven pieces have been loaned by Mary Austin, Mercury’s former fiancée and lifelong confidante, who also worked with the museum on their presentation.

Designer Tom Piper, known for creating the Tower of London’s poppy installation, has staged each outfit theatrically against the V&A’s architecture. In other words, this won’t simply be a row of costumes standing inside glass cases.

Dates: 24 October 2026–17 January 2027
Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Entry: Free
More information: V&A

Where Else Can You Find Free Art in London?

London’s major museums are a good place to begin, but they’re far from your only option.

Canary Wharf has an extensive collection of outdoor art dotted among its towers and public spaces, including work by Henry Moore,