Cecily Brown, Picture Making at Serpentine South Gallery
Published on 08/31/2026 at 18:08 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Cecily Brown anchors Serpentine South Gallery this summer with her solo exhibition Picture Making. As the Serpentine announcement states, the show runs from March 27 to September 6, 2026, and marks her first major UK institutional presentation of paintings since 2005. Brown builds a new body of work around Kensington Gardens, where nature, memory and park life converge.
The Serpentine solo show
Picture Making occupies Serpentine South Gallery in London’s Kensington Gardens, with free admission and a run confirmed from March 27 to September 6, 2026. The institution highlights Brown’s vigorous brushwork and vivid color, with new canvases made specifically for the site shown alongside key paintings dating back to 2001.
The Serpentine frames the exhibition as a homecoming for the London-born painter, now based in New York for roughly three decades. It emphasizes recurring motifs in the show, including amorous couples, woodland scenes and uncanny nature walks, all filtered through Brown’s characteristic blend of figuration and abstraction.
Exhibition & show context
The Evening Standard lists Cecily Brown: Picture Making among London’s must-see exhibitions closing in late summer 2026, noting its deadline of September 6 at Serpentine South. The review stresses how trees, water, animals and figures appear and dissolve within her gestural brushstrokes, pushing pastoral scenes toward instability.
According to the same piece, the landscapes in Picture Making draw on memories of the English countryside and Kensington Gardens while channeling a sense of a natural world in flux, resonating with a season of extreme heat and wildfires. Against that backdrop, Brown’s show functions as both painterly exploration and subtle climate-era commentary.
Exhibitions and background on Cecily Brown
For more reporting on Cecily Brown’s exhibitions, auction results and institutional shows, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers additional context on her position in contemporary painting.
The work core in London
In Picture Making, Brown revisits themes of nature and park life that have long shaped her formal explorations, experimenting with scale, color and shifting motifs. New paintings respond directly to Serpentine’s location in Kensington Gardens, while monotypes and drawings trace back to her early memories of the English landscape.
The Serpentine notes Brown’s interest in children’s book illustrations and cautionary tales, which infuse the works with darker undercurrents beneath luminous surfaces. This aligns with wider commentary on her practice, where beauty often feels poised to unravel, and figures hover between presence and dissolution.
Where the artist stands now
Overall, Cecily Brown’s exhibition Picture Making remains on view at Serpentine South Gallery in London through September 6, 2026, giving collectors and viewers a tightly framed window to experience this institutional homecoming.
Cecily Brown at a glance
- Artist: Cecily Brown
- Medium / Genre: Painting (contemporary abstraction and figuration)
- Born: 1969, London, United Kingdom
- Place(s) of practice: Studio in New York City
- Active since: early 1990s, with wider recognition from late 1990s institutional and gallery shows.
- Key work groups: Untitled gestural figurative canvases of the late 1990s, Mean Eyed Cat era works around 2012, and recent landscape-focused paintings such as those in Picture Making.
- Current/last exhibition: Cecily Brown: Picture Making, Serpentine South Gallery, London, March 27 - September 6, 2026.
- Major collections: Works by Cecily Brown are held in major public collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Tate (London) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York).
- Awards: Brown’s career is marked more by institutional surveys and market recognition than headline prizes; no major international award such as the Turner Prize is publicly listed as of 2026.
- Next date: Cecily Brown: Picture Making at Serpentine South Gallery, London, closing September 6, 2026.
Frequently asked questions about Cecily Brown
Where is Cecily Brown currently on view?
In summer 2026, Cecily Brown’s solo exhibition Picture Making is on view at Serpentine South Gallery in London’s Kensington Gardens, with a confirmed run from March 27 to September 6, 2026.
What defines Cecily Brown’s exhibition Picture Making?
Picture Making presents new and recent paintings, monotypes and drawings inspired by Kensington Gardens and Brown’s memories of the English landscape, emphasizing nature, park life and darker undertones drawn from cautionary tales.
How is Cecily Brown’s position framed by institutions and press?
The Serpentine describes Picture Making as Brown’s first major UK institutional show of paintings since 2005, while London press highlights it as a must-see exhibition that pushes landscape painting toward a volatile, contemporary sensibility.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
