Exhibitions

Lartigue Tour with Marion Perceval

Join Marion Perceval, Director of Donations Lartigue, on an expert tour of our current exhibition Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour. Discover more about the photographers techniques, influences and legacy. Taking place October 3 2026, 2pm Free with an exhibitions ticket, purchase here. Booking required.

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Audio Described Tour | Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour

This event is designed for visitors who are blind or partially sighted, and their companions. Join our specialist tour guides to explore Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour. Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) is best known for his black and white photographs of society at the turn of the century Parisian Belle Époque. He also famously documented innovations including car racing and aviation, the floating world of the mid-century French Riviera. With in-depth descriptions and hand-held touch elements, the tour will guide visitors through a unique selection of key artworks. “It was absolutely fabulous – The last piece especially left me reeling for more! I can’t see much, but I got so much from the tour. I’d come every week if I could!” (Tour Participant) Taking place Wednesday 29 July, 11am Wednesday 26 August, 11am

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Guided Tours | Jacques Henri Lartigue

Discover Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour in greater depth and find out more about the works on display and the stories behind them. Free with your exhibition ticket (purchased here or at front desk), booking advised. Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894–1986) is celebrated for his black-and-white photographs of Belle Époque Paris, capturing elegance, speed and modern life; from car racing and aviation to the French Riviera. The exhibition at MK Gallery is the first UK public presentation of photographer’s work in over a decade and focuses on his little-known colour photography. Featuring over 150 works, the exhibition traces his career including childhood drawings, fashion photography and late abstractions. Though long overlooked, his work gained international recognition with a landmark MoMA exhibition in 1963, establishing him as a pioneer of instantaneous photography. Taking place: [From Saturday 4th July] Tuesdays and Saturdays, 2pm   

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Conversational Tours | Jacques Henri Lartigue

Join our brilliant volunteer tour guides for an informal exploration of Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour to discuss the context and themes of the exhibition. Free with your exhibition ticket (purchased here or at front desk), booking advised. Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894–1986) is celebrated for his black-and-white photographs of Belle Époque Paris, capturing elegance, speed and modern life; from car racing and aviation to the French Riviera. The exhibition at MK Gallery is the first UK public presentation of photographer’s work in over a decade and focuses on his little-known colour photography. Featuring over 150 works, the exhibition traces his career including childhood drawings, fashion photography and late abstractions. Though long overlooked, his work gained international recognition with a landmark MoMA exhibition in 1963, establishing him as a pioneer of instantaneous photography. Taking place: Tuesdays, 11am (Starting Tuesday 7 July) First Sunday of the month, 11am

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Our Studio: Spring Showcase

Event Space | Free entry, 10am-5pm Inclusive of ambitious group installations, immersive animations, photography and much more, this showcase celebrates Our Studio's diversity of collaborative and individual creative practice. Our Studio is MK Gallery's creative programme for neurodivergent and disabled young people aged 14-25yrs. Please note on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and Saturday 18th April, young artists will be working in the Event Space. Public visits will be sensitively managed at these times.

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Euan Uglow – Slow Looking

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Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour

‘Colour is the best way to express the charm and poetry of life.’  French painter, writer, and photographer, Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) is best known for his black and white photographs of society at the turn of the century Parisian Belle Époque. He also famously documented innovations including car racing and aviation, the floating world of the mid-century French Riviera, and trips to the United States at the end of his life. His work had late recognition, with a solo exhibition in 1963 at MoMA, New York. At that time, Lartigue was regarded as a pioneer of the instantaneous in photography, which would give rise to the genre known as street photography. This is the first UK public exhibition of Lartigue’s work for over 10 years. It focuses on an exceptional and little-known aspect of his work: until recently, the majority of his colour photographs had never been seen, although they represent nearly 40% of the over 100,000 images conserved by the Donation JH Lartigue. The exhibition features more than 150 items including early stereoscopic images producing three-dimensional effects, vintage prints, unique works on paper, archival documents, lightboxes and projections. It also showcases Lartigue’s career from drawings made as a child in the 1900s to the fashion world of the 1960s and late abstractions of the 1980s. Exhibition organized in collaboration with the Association des Amis de Jacques Henri Lartigue, Ministère de la Culture, France and diChroma photography.

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L.S. Lowry

This solo exhibition of the work of Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887 – 1976) marks the 50th anniversary of the Painter's death, and 13 years since his last significant institutional show. Lowry was a British painter, best known for his industrial landscapes of northwest of England. He was born in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied at the Municipal College of Art, Manchester, Salford School of Art and Manchester Academy of Fine Arts while working as a clerk and rent collector – a job he continued until his retirement in 1952. Lowry famously worked with just five colours of undiluted oil paint: ivory black, vermillion, Prussian blue, yellow ochre and flake white. Around 1915, his tutor Bernard Taylor advised him that his paintings were too dark and from then on he painted on a white ground – against which his shadowless, dark outlined shapes stood out. This became his signature technique and aesthetic. Less well known are his early academic studies from the antique and the life room in pencil and charcoal, detailed pencil drawings of city locations and works in pastel and watercolour. Lowry is an extremely popular artist in Britain, however, his work outside the iconic industrial scenes remains little known. This exhibition aims to provide an overview of all his themes and subjects, from landscapes and seascapes to portraits and surreal imaginings. He was also a complex character who kept his life and art separate and encouraged many of the myths that now surround him: that he was solitary, self-taught, disconnected from art history and the modernist tradition. Lowry’s career ran alongside huge changes in British society which saw the workers, mills, terraced housing and urban landscapes he painted bombed, cleared and replaced. All these themes will be explored within the exhibition. Guided Exhibition Tours Join our insightful tour guides for a deep-dive into the exhibition. Conversational Tours: Tuesdays and Sunday, 11am (max 10 per tour) General Tours: Tuesdays and Saturdays, 2pm Please note: bags must be smaller than A4 to bring into the Gallery. We have a limited number of small lockers which can accommodate backpacks, but please do not bring large luggage.

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Catherine Lampert and Robert Dukes in Conversation

Discover more about Euan Uglow's creative practice at this in-conversation event at MK Gallery's Sky Room. This is a unique opportunity to hear Catherine Lampert, curator of our current exhibition, discuss the work of one of Britain's most exciting painters of the 20th century. She will be joined by artist Robert Dukes, who studied at the Slade School of Art during Uglow's time as a tutor.  

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To Improvise an Archive: A Women’s Oral History Of West Africa

An evening of storytelling and radical listening inspired by the exhibition, To Improvise A Mountain: Lynette Yiadom Boakye Curates. Taking artist and writer, Lynette Yiadom- Boakye's curatorial lead, National Geographic Explorer, Sylvia Arthur presents selected stories from her A Women's Oral History of West Africa archive and facilitates and mini workshop on oral history and preserving life stories. We are also joined by Better Than Mamas who will be taking over the MK Gallery Café kitchen to produce the most amazing West African food between 5:30 - 8:30pm Discover more about the archive Taking place 16 January 2026, 6pm Schedule

• 6-6.45pm | Listening and talk
• 6.45-7.15pm | Break
• 7.15-8pm | Mini-workshop
• 8-8.30pm | Socialising/End

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Euan Uglow: An Arc from the Eye

Euan Uglow (1932 – 2000) was one of Britain’s most significant 20th century painters, known for his sustained observation and painstaking technique, often taking months, if not years, to complete a work. Each picture pursues a particular idea, seeking to depict the visual reality of the concept, expressed with radiant colours and light. Uglow often had three or four active ‘set-ups’ in his Battersea studio, using particular rectangular compositions in an attempt ‘to paint a structured painting full of controlled and therefore potent emotion’. Almost mathematical in his methods, Uglow left markings on his canvases that reveal his processes, including how the passage of time affected the depiction of his subjects. Best known for his large-scale nudes, Uglow also made landscapes in the summer light of the Mediterranean and still lifes, taking up the challenge of painting materials such as plastic, as well as organic material in gradual decay, such as fruit. Curated by Catherine Lampert, this will be the first solo exhibition of Uglow’s work in a UK public institution for 20 years. Featuring over 40 of his most ambitious paintings, as well as drawings and examples of work by his artistic influences, Paul Cézanne, Alberto Giacometti and his former tutors William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore and Claude Rogers.  

Guided Exhibition Tours

Join our insightful tour guides for a deep-dive into the exhibition.

Accessibility

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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in Conversation

Saturday 8 November, 2025 | 2.30pm Join us for a rare opportunity to hear a discussion with one of Britain's most exciting figurative painters. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye will be in conversation with Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, interdisciplinary artists and founders of The Otolith Group, at MK Gallery's Skyroom. This event will give audiences a rare insight into her creative practice. Ticket information Admission to the event is £10 Admission to both the event and exhibition £17.50 Galleries are open between 10am and 5pm

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