Once Upon a Time in London is a group exhibition celebrating London, its artists and institutions. Featuring commissioned works from contemporary artists as well as major loans drawing from the rich history, diversity and cultural scene of London.

The exhibition will survey how the city has evolved but remains a constant beating heart of ground- breaking art. Beginning after WWII, featuring violent, psychologically twisted paintings from modern British masters Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud to the golden years of the RCA where America's influence grows internationally, David Hockney paints a vision of Arizona as pop culture arrives on British shores. In more recent times, the exhibition explores London in the 90s. A generation of graduate artists who didn’t ask for permission, hosting exhibitions of cutting edge conceptual art in abandoned shops and London buildings, embodying the punk spirit of the city. Damien Hirst's medicine cabinets turn art into a science experiment, painkillers and antidepressants creating artificial emotional responses, or a portrait from Jenny Saville’s graduation show exploring the female figure from entirely new perspectives. More recently works by Lynette Yiadom Boakye brings a new viewpoint to the figurative painting tradition or even more recently Jade Fadoujitimi brings a new energy to abstract painting.

Finally, the exhibition will explore the current community of London artists within this historic context. Artists such as Oli Epp and Benjamin Spiers create masterfully painted surreal portraits that delve deep into the human psyche in a post digital world, Slawn brings post-brexit Nigerian chutzpah to the London scene, rejecting the status quo, his dynamism and force of nature is undeniable. These are just a few of the artists who make up today’s thrilling London scene. Once again we see a new generation of artists challenging the established order, it is this iconoclastic spirit that links our great cities artists over generations. The full list of artists included here: George Ruoy, Benjamin Spiers, Lucian Freud, Tracey Emin, R.B Kitaj, Frank Auerbach, Gilbert & George, Grayson Perry, Jade Fadojutimi, Peter Doig, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Jenny Saville, Chris Ofili, Leon Kossoff, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Neil Stokoe, Paula Rego, Cecily Brown, Olaolu Slawn, Danny Fox, Michael Andrews, Oli Epp, Alvaro Barrington, Síomha Harrington, Bridget Riley, Joanna Van Son, Cato, Martin Maloney, Samuel Ross and Yinka Shonibare.