Explore Bath’s art and culture at one of the many art galleries and museums. Take a look at this list to get a taste of the places to visit during your stay in Bath:
Bath Abbey
5th April – 27th September

Austens at the Abbey
Immerse yourself in the fascinating connections the Austen family has to Bath Abbey through a brand-new exhibition. Through their memorials, discover the captivating stories of doctors, sailors, musicians, an actor and an international businesswoman who are all linked to Jane Austen and her family. The exhibition is included in Bath Abbey’s regular admission and offers a new and intriguing understanding of Austen’s world.
No.1 Royal Crescent
14th September – 23rd February
Being There
Come and see No.1 Royal Crescent’s new exhibition Being There, featuring four recently acquired Thomas Gainsborough portraits. The exhibition is the first in The Gallery. No.1 Royal Crescent’s ambitious new programme of contemporary art exhibitions.
The four Gainsborough paintings will be presented as key components of a kaleidoscopic group exhibition of portraiture featuring 18 contemporary British artists selected by guest curator Ingrid Swenson MBE.
The Holburne Museum
18th January – 5th May
Joshua Donkor: I have more souls than one
The Holburne is pleased to present a display of recent works by Joshua Donkor (b. 1997, UK), a Ghanian-British painter who grew up in Bath.
His work is deeply personal, using portraiture to reflect family history, identities and experiences, exploring how feelings of belonging and estrangement play out through different generations.
24th January – 5th May
Iconic: Portraiture from Francis Bacon to Andy Warhol
Featuring major names of 20th century art including Francis Bacon, Peter Blake, Pauline Boty, Richard Hamilton, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol, Iconic: Portraiture from Francis Bacon to Andy Warhol brings rarely-seen works together to explore the ways artists are inspired by photography.
24th January – 5th May
Diedrick Brackens: Woven Stories
The Holburne are pleased to present the first exhibition in the UK by Diedrick Brackens (b. 1989, Texas, US) this spring.
Born in Texas in 1989, his hand-crafted works employ techniques from West African weaving, quilting from the American South and European tapestry-making to create works that explore American history, African American and queer identity, allegory and narrative.
23rd May – 31st August
Impressions in Watercolour: Turner and his Contemporaries
This will be a rare opportunity to see some of Turner’s finest watercolours from a private collection, in the 250th anniversary year since his birth. The exhibition will showcase Turner at his most experimental and gestural. The selection of works will also place him among notable contemporaries including Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman, to highlight the era of exciting developments in watercolour in which they worked.
11th September – 11th January 2026
Illustrating Austen
In the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth, our autumn display will offer audiences the chance to see the artwork behind their favourite Austen novels.
Centring around Austen’s stories and the characters she created, Illustrating Austen will demonstrate how our favourite characters came to life on the page and have evolved through the years, reflecting the changing times and new audiences.
Victoria Art Gallery
24th January – 21st April
Mirror of Mirth: Rowlandson & Nixon Satirise Bath
In the late 18th century, satire was all the rage in London and satirist Thomas Rowlandson was at the height of his powers. No-one among the rich and powerful was safe from his sharp wit and prolific pencil. So when summer came and the great and the good escaped to the elegant spa resort of Bath for the season, Rowlandson followed and brought his chum, John Nixon, along for the ride. Nixon, a successful merchant and amateur artist, was no stranger to satire himself. Together they laid bare the follies and foibles not only of Georgian high society, but the lower echelons bobbing in their wake as well.
14th January – 13th April
Perry Harris: Essence of Bath
Perry Harris is a cartoonist and landscape artist who uses paint and digital colour to bring Bath to life. He has worked in a variety of areas: a cartoonist for punk fanzines, stage scenery painter, architectural illustrator and art technician. He currently balances being a school caretaker with creating his own artwork.