5 Big Exhibitions to Look Forward to in 2021
Francis Bacon, Study for Bullfight No. 1, 1969
2020 was a skimpy year, arts-wise. We sneaked into The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy and took in Tracey Emin/Munch, Warhol at Tate Modern, just before lockdown, Aubrey Beardsley, Bruce Nauman... Oh, actually not that bad a year, come to think of it. Well, this year’s going to be even better and we have five hand-chosen exhibitions to prove it and make you scientifically more erudite.
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast
ROYAL ACADEMY
First up is Francis Bacon: Man and Beast at the Royal Academy (it was supposed to be on from February but they’ve obviously put a hold on until such a time...), which explores the gay Irish-born artist’s obsession with animals and the animalistic side of human beings. It’s going to be messy, let’s face it. As was he.
Dates TBA
royalacademy.org.uk
Hogarth and Europe
TATE BRITAIN
One of our absolute obsessions is Georgian London so we’ll be spunking wads of cash in the gift shop at Hogarth and Europe at Tate Britain, where people who know way more about art than we do have put some of the famous engraver and painter’s depictions of London alongside similar scenes cooked up in the cities of Europe. We just hope the engraving of the drunk lady spilling her child over a sheer drop is included. Well, at least she didn’t spill her gin!
3 November – 20 March
tate.org.uk
The Making of Rodin
TATE MODERN
There’s more to Rodin than a Kiss and a Thinker as they will be proving beyond reasonable doubt at Tate Modern in an exhibition called The Making of Rodin, which focuses more on his craft, his modelling and his plaster renders rather than the finished bronzes. The atmosphere they’re hoping to create is one of an artist’s studio - so wear a smock! - with more than 200 works of art, many of them borrowed from the Musée Rodin in Paris in an exclusive deal. We do love an exclusive deal.
29 April – 30 October
tate.org.uk
Night Fever
V&A DUNDEE
Night Fever at V&A Dundee (so you can have cake while you’re there) explores the architecture of nightclubs, the insides of which you’ve probably seen a fair few of over the years. From Studio 54 in New York to Manchester’s state of the art Hacienda there is sadly no inclusion for The Eagle in Vauxhall. Strange? We think so.
From 27 March
vam.ac.uk
Paula Rego
TATE BRITAIN
And finally, she’s apparently the UK’s greatest living artist so top snaps to Paula Rego for getting herself a huge retrospective at Tate Britain with paintings, sculptures, collages, drawings, shopping lists, the works. Covering the waterfront from the 1950s until now, we are promised content that runs into three figures. And you can’t say fairy-er than that.
16 June – 24 October
tate.org.uk
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