The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South (previously known as the Serpentine Gallery) and Serpentine North (previously known as the Sackler Gallery).
The gallery spaces are within five minutes' walk of each other, linked by the bridge over the Serpentine Lake from which the galleries get their names. Their exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract up to 1.2 million visitors a year. Admission to both galleries is free. The CEO is Bettina Korek, and the artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Serpentine South Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, was established in 1970 and is housed in a Grade II listed former tea pavilion built in 1933–34 by the architect James Grey West. Notable artists whose works have been exhibited there include Man Ray, Henry Moore, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Paula Rego, Sondra Perry, Bridget Riley, Allan McCollum,Liam Gillick, "Allan McCollum at the Serpentine", Artscribe, Summer 1989 Anish Kapoor, Christian Boltanski, Philippe Parreno, Richard Prince, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gerhard Richter, Gustav Metzger, Damien Hirst, Maria Lassnig, Adrian Berg, Jeff Koons and Marina Abramović. On the ground at the gallery's entrance is a permanent work made by Ian Hamilton Finlay in collaboration with Peter Coates, and dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales, the gallery's former patron.
Serpentine North
In 2013, Serpentine North was opened to the public named as the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, a name changed to Serpentine North in 2021. This gave new life to The Magazine, a Grade II* listed former gunpowder store built in 1805, with the addition of an extension designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Located five minutes' walk from Serpentine South across the Serpentine Bridge, it comprises of gallery space, restaurant, shop and social space. The Magazine Restaurant adjoins the gallery space.
Pavilions Every year since 2000, Serpentine has commissioned a temporary summer pavilion by a leading architect. The series presents the work of an international architect or design team who has not completed a building in England at the time of the Gallery's invitation. Each Pavilion is completed within six months and is situated on the Serpentine South's lawn for three months for the public to explore. 2000: Zaha Hadid 2001: Daniel Libeskind 2002: Toyo Ito 2003: Oscar Niemeyer 2005: Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura 2006: Rem Koolhaas 2007 pre-pavilion Lilias: Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher 2007: Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen 2008: Frank Gehry 2009: SANAA 2010: Jean Nouvel 2011: Peter Zumthor with Piet Oudolf 2012: Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron 2013: Sou Fujimoto 2014: Smiljan Radić Clarke 2015: Selgas Cano 2016: Bjarke Ingels 2017: Diébédo Francis Kéré 2018: Frida Escobedo 2019: Junya IshigamiSerpentine Galleries: "Serpentine Pavilion 2019 designed by Junya Ishigami" 27 February 2019 2021: Sumayya Vally, Counterspace 2022: Theaster Gates 2023: Lina Ghotmeh 2024: Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies 2025: Marina Tabassum 2026: Amar Kanwar
Gallery of temporary pavilions
See also
Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize
References
External links
Collection of articles about the Serpentine Pavilions at The Guardian