Seurat’s seascapes – one of the most intriguing prospects for 2026

Header image: Georges Seurat, Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

One of the finest collections of art anywhere in the world can be found less than a mile from Berkeley Square. The Courtauld, tucked away at Somerset House next to Waterloo Bridge. Holds an enviable selection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by the likes of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Degas, Gaugin and Van Gogh. Later giants of Modern art include Modigliani, and Matisse.

Now the Courtauld has just announced a truly exciting exhibitions programme for 2026. Promising to be one of the shows of the year, The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Seurat and the Sea opens on February 13 and runs until May 17

Astonishingly, it is the first show ever dedicated to the seascapes of the Prince of Pointillism, who died at the age of 31 in 1891. It is also the first major UK exhibition dedicated to Seurat in over 30 years.

His relatively short career means that Seurat did not leave a large body of work behind, so a show dedicated to seascapes is naturally going to be compact. It will feature 27 paintings, oil sketches and drawings that chart the evolution of his radical style.

How will The Courtauld follow that? With an equally bold proposition: Hepworth in Colour, a gathering of around 20 of Barbara Hepworth’s most significant sculptures with colour, as well as 30 important drawings. Opening on June 12, it will focus on the artist’s fascination with colour. It runs until September 6.

Barbara Hepworth, Eidos, 1947, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, © Bowness. Photo Predrag Cancar _ NGV. Image courtesy National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne copy

Completing the run of new shows in the autumn will be the first solo-exhibition in Europe of the acclaimed New York-based painter Salman Toor (b.1983, Lahore). “Toor’s iconic, thought-provoking and yet humorous paintings capture intimate moments of love and friendship as well experiences of solitude and alienation,” say the organisers. It opens on October 2.

Salman Toor, The Bar on East 13th, 2019, Oil on panel © Salman Toor; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Thomas Dane Gallery

Header image: Seurat

Georges Seurat, Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.