London’s Courtauld Gallery is officially expanding with two new galleries

More baroque for your buck

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an image of the exterior of the building
(Image credit: The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Nestled in the magnificent neo-classical building of Somerset House, The Courtauld is London’s one-stop shop for some of the best art collections in the UK. Now, it will be boosting its culture dosage with the addition of two new gallery spaces.

Thanks to an (assumingly hefty) donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, The Courtald has announced it will open the aptly named Blavatnik Contemporary Galleries on the top floor of Somerset House’s North Wing.

According to The Courtauld, the galleries will “provide a distinctive space for visitors and students to experience contemporary art through special exhibitions, commissions, and events.”

Georges Seurat (1859-1891), Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, oil on canvas. Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N.Harriman, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

(Image credit: The Courtauld / Georges Seurat)

The Courtauld is home to several impressionist masterpieces like Manet’s A Bar at the Folies Bergere, and Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear. As well as stalwart classics, the gallery runs special exhibitions featuring some of the world’s most famous artworks and artists.

Currently, The Courtauld's next exhibition is kicking off in February 2026 titled Seurat and the Sea, dedicated to the French artist George Seurat’s landscapes. Later in the year there will be two further exhibitions, the former: Hepworth in Colour which will spotlight some of the lesser known works of Barbara Hepworth and how she used colour. The former, Salman Toor: Someone Like You is heading to The Courtauld in Autumn 2026, and it will be the first solo exhibition in Europe of the celebrated New York-based painter Salaman Toor, featuring around 20 of his works.

The new galleries will form part of a new campus for art students, created by architects Witherford Watson Mann, and designed in collaboration with Purcell and Lawson Ward Studio. The gallery’s Senior Curator for Contemporary Art said that the “new spaces will help us connect past and present art and ideas, engage students and bring living artists to the core of our activities."

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Hermione Blandford
Hermione Blandford
Content Editor

Hermione Blandford is the Content Editor for Shortlist’s social media which means you can usually find her scrolling through Instagram and calling it work, or stopping random people in the street and accosting them with a mini mic. She has previously worked in food and drink PR for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon's, The Singleton, Lagavulin and Don Julio which means she is a self confessed expert in spicy margaritas and pints, regularly popping into the pub in the name of research.

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