The Rossettis
6 April 2023 – 24 September 2023
Nearest Station: Pimlico
This shows how siblings Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti forged a counter-cultural circle in 19th Britain, inspired by new ideas about life, love, sex, society, and art. This is the largest exhibition of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s paintings in two decades and the first time all the surviving paintings and major works on paper by his wife Elizabeth (née Siddall) will be seen in public.
Star Wars Celebration
7–10 April 2023
ExCel London
Nearest Station: Custom House
To coincide with the 40-year anniversary of Return of the Jedi, which came out on 25 May 1983 in the US and 2 June 1983 in the UK. This is the fourth Star Wars Celebration to take place in Europe, and the third in London. The last time it took place here was in 2016. The Star Wars Celebration is an annual convention that originated in 1999. Every year, fans gather to listen to panels, meet celebrity guests, and shop for merchandise.
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense
7 April – 30 July 2023
Design Museum
Nearest Station: High Street Kensington
Ai Weiwei is one of the most significant and recognised artists working today. Known around the world for his powerful art and activism, Ai does not differentiate between disciplines: his practice glides across art, architecture, design, film, collecting, and curating. This major new exhibition, developed in collaboration with Ai Weiwei, is the first to present his work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values. Through his engagement with material culture, Ai explores the tension between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction.
Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian
20 April – 3 September 2023
Nearest Station: Blackfriars
From early landscapes and flower paintings to celebrated abstract works – including many never before seen in the UK – this exhibition reassesses two pivotal figures in art history. It reveals how their visual language of signs, shapes, and colors was rooted in a shared fascination with the natural world and a desire to understand the forces behind life on earth.
Blue
20 April – 4 May 2023
London Coliseum
Nearest Station: Charing Cross
The UK debut of this opera in two acts, with a libretto from Tazewell Thompson, a score by Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and directed by fast-rising British theatre star Tinuke Craig. Blue explores ever-relevant questions of race, duty, and the limits of loyalty, following an African American family as the patriarch’s police job clashes with his activist son’s notions of equality and justice.
London Marathon
Sunday 23 April 2023
Back to the traditional time of year for 2023, the London Marathon is an annual, inspiring, and colorful fixture in the world’s sporting calendar since its inaugural race on 29 March 1981. More than a million people have completed the course, over a billion pounds have been raised for charity and there have been countless amazing tales of human achievement. See up to 50,000 runners on the 26.2 mile-course from Greenwich to The Mall.
Isaac Julien
27 April – 20 August 2023
Tate Britain
Nearest Station: Pimlico
An ambitious solo exhibition for one of the most important contemporary artists and filmmakers working today. It uncovers the scope of Julien’s pioneering work from the early 1980s through to his recent large-scale, multi-screen installations, which investigate the movement of peoples across different continents, times, and spaces.
MORE APRIL 2023 EVENTS
The Passion of Jesus in Trafalgar Square: 7 April 2023 (Free, full-scale re-enactment of Jesus’s final days, from his arrest to his resurrection). Easter Sunday: 9 April 2023. Houses of Parliament Guided Tours (During Parliamentary Easter recess). Queen’s 97th birthday: 21 April (This is her ‘real’ birthday and not the public one we celebrate in June). Feast of St George: 21 April 2023 (Trafalgar Square festival for the patron saint of England). Olivier Awards 2023: date tbc (Glamorous and star-studded affair at the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the best of the London stage. Public tickets are available)
Author: Laura Porter
Laura Porter writes AboutLondonLaura.com and contributes to many other publications while maintaining an impressive afternoon tea addiction. You can find Laura on Twitter as @AboutLondon, on Instagram as @AboutLondon and @AboutLondon Laura on Facebook.