By Yulia Tulegenova
Frieze London and Frieze Masters return to The Regent's Park from 14 to 18 October 2026, with 14 October an invitation-only preview and nearly 300 galleries between the two fairs. The London Society has the practical detail on both, from opening hours to tickets, in its guide to Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026. Our own guide to October in London covers the big institutional openings.
This piece is about everything else. For five days the city runs a second programme around the fairs: smaller fairs with a clearer focus, museum shows timed to open that week, and at least one place where you can pick up a brush yourself. Most of it is cheaper than a Frieze ticket, and some of it is free.
Start with what costs nothing
Frieze Sculpture has been in the English Gardens since 16 September and stays until 1 November. It is free, needs no ticket or booking, and this year brings eleven international artists to the southern end of the Broad Walk. The London Society's visitor guide to Frieze Sculpture 2026 lists all eleven works and how to find them; we went through the same works and the curator's theme of hybridity in Frieze Sculpture 2026: Eleven Works in the English Gardens. If you are going to the fairs, walk through the gardens between Frieze London and Frieze Masters rather than taking the shuttle.
1-54 at Somerset House, 15 to 18 October
The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to Somerset House for its 14th consecutive London edition, from 15 to 18 October, with a press and VIP preview on the 15th. It is the fair with the clearest sense of purpose in the week: contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, shown across the East, West and South Wings and the Terrace Rooms.
This year the fair adds a spotlight on Modernist artists from Africa and the diaspora, including a dedicated exhibition, West Wind, curated by Dr Nancy Dantas, and a large-scale installation in the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court. Standard tickets are £32 and concessions £18; children under 12 go free. The fair opens from 11am to 7pm, and until 6pm on Sunday.
PAD London in Berkeley Square, 13 to 18 October
PAD London opens earliest, with a collectors' preview on Tuesday 13 October and a VIP opening on the 14th, before opening to the public from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October. It is a fair of historical and contemporary design rather than contemporary art, held in Berkeley Square in Mayfair. If Frieze Masters is the place to see how old art is sold, PAD is where the same happens to furniture, ceramics and objects.
The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, 14 to 18 October
The autumn edition of the Affordable Art Fair runs at the same time as Frieze, at Evolution London in Battersea Park, with more than 100 UK and international galleries. It is built for people buying their first original work, and it keeps longer hours than any fair in the park: a private view on Wednesday evening, general admission from 11am to 5pm on Thursday and Friday followed by Art After Dark from 5pm to 9pm, and 10am to 6pm at the weekend, with family mornings on Saturday and Sunday.
The week before: The Other Art Fair, Brick Lane, 8 to 11 October
If you want to see work straight from the studio before the dealers arrive, The Other Art Fair runs the week before Frieze, from 8 to 11 October at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. It shows independent artists selling their own work, with installations, music and a bar, and it is an evening fair on Thursday and Friday: 5pm to 10pm on the opening night, 4pm to 10pm on Friday, then 11am to 7pm on Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sunday.
Paint it yourself: Hockney Paint Jam, 15 to 18 October
Not everything in Frieze week is about looking. Paint Jam London, which runs painting events and workshops, is opening a pop-up studio at XYZ Regent's Park, 69 Bolsover Street, for a series it calls Hockney Paint Jam, from 15 to 18 October. It opens on Thursday 15 October from 4pm to 8pm and runs from 12pm to 5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The studio is a short walk from the park, and the idea is simple: after looking at other people's paintings, spend a few hours making your own. Entry is free with a ticket booked on Eventbrite; more about the studio is on Paint Jam's site.
Two openings timed for the week
Two exhibitions open just before the fairs and will still be on long after them. At the Courtauld Gallery, Salman Toor: Someone Like You (2 October 2026 to 10 January 2027) is the New York-based painter's first solo exhibition in Europe, with a separate display of his drawings on the first floor. At the Barbican, Robert Ryman: The Real Thing (8 October 2026 to 28 February 2027) is the first in-depth look at the American painter's work in the UK for more than thirty years.
Between them they make a useful counterweight to the fairs. Toor paints intimate scenes of friendship and domestic life; Ryman spent his career on white paint, surface and the edge of the canvas. Neither is for sale.
How to plan the week
- Wednesday 14: Frieze and PAD previews are invitation-only; the Affordable Art Fair has its private view in the evening.
- Thursday 15: Frieze London's general admission window is short on Thursday, so start there if you are doing both fairs. 1-54 opens with its preview, and Hockney Paint Jam opens at 4pm.
- Friday 16 and Saturday 17: the fullest days, with every fair open. Book fair tickets in advance; Frieze sells online only.
- Sunday 18: most fairs close early, around 6pm. A good day for Frieze Sculpture, the Courtauld or the Barbican.
For a first visit to the main fair, our survival guide to a first Frieze London covers the time, money and stamina it actually takes.
Sources
- The London Society: Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026; Frieze Sculpture 2026 in The Regent's Park
- Somerset House: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2026
- PAD London: general information, 2026 edition
- Affordable Art Fair: Battersea Autumn 2026
- The Other Art Fair: London, October 2026
- Paint Jam London: new studio page and press release, September 2026
- The Courtauld: Salman Toor: Someone Like You
- Barbican: Robert Ryman: The Real Thing
Photo: Somerset House courtyard, looking north. Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
