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Gilbert & George to debut new pictures in landmark exhibition at Hayward Gallery.

Gilbert & George to debut new pictures in landmark exhibition at Hayward Gallery – Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES, a landmark exhibition of art by the pioneering London-based artists.

The presentation highlights Gilbert & George’s evolution over the past 25 years, exploring how technology has made their reflections of today’s society bigger and bolder than ever before. Transforming the space with over 60 floor-to-ceiling installations, the artists will debut new pictures alongside acclaimed pictures in a larger-than-life journey through the modern world as they see it. 

Gilbert & George are iconic artists, epitomised by their monumental commitment to being ‘living sculptures’ spanning the last five decades. Inspired by our modern world, they act as visual archaeologists of our times by capturing elements of our changing society. From newspaper headlines to road signs, postcards and overheard conversations, the artists blend images and text from everyday life to create vivid pictures that encourage dialogue about today’s social norms and taboos. The resulting art is often provocative and challenging in its refusal to deliver simple messages about sex, religion, class, nationalism, corruption and death.

Debuting two new works from their 2025 THE SCREW PICTURES, Gilbert & George’s pictures increasingly confront their own mortality. Surrounded by everyday objects gathered from their home and nearby streets – such as screws, nuts, bolts and twigs – the pictures show their attention turning inwards in recent years. Retaining their characteristic wit, the title plays on the multiple meanings of the word screw whilst finding inspiration in the shifting rhythms of later life. 

The artists will also showcase pictures across key series made since 2000, such as NEW HORNY PICTURES (2001), THE LONDON PICTURES (2011), THE BEARD PICTURES (2016) and CORPSING PICTURES (2022). Tracing the increased scale and complexity of Gilbert & George’s work since 2000, the exhibition highlights how the artists began digitally distorting their pictures to conjure a vivid spectrum of anxieties, fears and desires. 

“Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES reaffirms the artists’ singular position within the landscape of British art, exploring the complexities of human existence and confronting the social issues of our time. Speaking directly to the viewer, their images dismantle boundaries of class, culture, and taste, guided by an unwavering belief that art is for all. This exhibition is not only a celebration of their extraordinary practice across this millennium, but an invitation to step into the immersive and contradictory theatre of contemporary life—as only Gilbert & George can conjure it.”

Rachel Thomas, Roden Chief Curator of the Hayward Gallery,

Championing the motto ‘art for all’, Gilbert & George have rejected the notion that art requires knowledge of formal theory to be understood, instead encouraging viewers to respond emotionally and intellectually to their art and the attitudes it represents. As an open space for the nation’s enjoyment, the Southbank Centre similarly strives to spark new thinking about the society in which we operate by working with the leading artists of today. 

Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES is curated by Hayward Gallery Roden Chief Curator, Rachel Thomas, with Assistant Curators, Suzanna Petot and Hannah Martin, and Curatorial Assistant, Ananya Jain. This exhibition is supported by Lehmann Maupin, Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube.

“In tracing how Gilbert & George’s art has continued to evolve and develop in bold new directions over the past 25 years, this exhibition highlights their remarkable resilience, unflagging creative energy, and their profound commitment to exploring – from their own idiosyncratic perspective – the changing cultural landscape of 21st century London. As always, their art incisively probes the relationship between individual identity and larger social formations – including religion, nationalism,and legalised codes of morality. Over the years, it increasingly confronts us with disturbing signs of the times, providing some of the most direct and provocative societal portraits of this era.” 

Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery,

Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES, 7th October 2025 – 4th January 2026, Hayward Gallery

Full price standard: £20 Concessions available & Southbank Centre Members go free

Gilbert & George will also join forces with the Philharmonia Orchestra, one of the Southbank Centre’s Resident Orchestras, for Gilbert & George: Sex, Money, Race, Religion at the Hayward Gallery: a classical performance in celebration of their work on 5th Oct 2025.

There will be a fully illustrated catalogue to accompany the show, with in-depth texts by Michael Bracewell and Rachel Thomas, plus a new interview with the artists with Hans-Ulrich Obrist.

About the artists

Gilbert was born in the Dolomites, Italy in 1943 and George was born in Devon, UK in 1942. Gilbert & George live and work in London. Solo exhibitions include their recent solo exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toio T?maki, New Zealand (2022), and their touring retrospective exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2021), Kunsthalle Zurich, Switzerland (2020), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2019), Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2019), and LUMA, Arles, France (2018). Other solo exhibitions include Casa Rusca Museum, Locarno (2020); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2019); Helsinki Art Museum, Finland (2018); Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Australia (2015); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Spain touring to Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2010); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (2008); Tate Modern, London touring to Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, De Young Museum, San Francisco, California, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York and Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin (2007–08); Serpentine Gallery, London (2002); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996); Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin touring to The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1985); and Whitechapel Gallery, London touring to Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Germany (1971). They have participated in numerous group exhibitions including ICA, Miami (2018); HangarBicocca, Milan (2017); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2011); Barbican Art Gallery, London (2007); 51st Venice Biennale (2005); 5th Biennale de Lyon, France (2000); Carnegie International (1985); and Turner Prize, Tate Gallery, London (1984). In spring 2023, the Gilbert & George Centre in Spitalfields, East London, opened to the public.

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