First major European exhibition by Salman Toor opens at the Courtauld Gallery on 2 October
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Opening 2 October 2026, the Courtauld presents the first solo exhibition in Europe of the artist Salman Toor, acclaimed for his arresting paintings of the contemporary experience and urban life. The exhibition brings together an outstanding selection of the artist’s most iconic, thought-provoking and at times humorous paintings, never-before-seen in Britain.
Salman Toor (b.1983) was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and lives and works in New York. His paintings capture people in moments of friendship and love, as well as solitude and alienation.The exhibition at the Courtauld will present 19 paintings, all created since 2019,that focus on Toor’s exploration of human interactions and the desire and struggle to experience a sense of belonging, both culturally and emotionally.The exhibition will be complemented by a special display ofToor’sdrawingsin the Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery.
WhileToor’sfigures andscenesare fictional, they arerooted inhispersonal experiencesand memories.Speaking of his works, hesays they“depict queer and immigrant lives thatstraddledifferent culturesand inhabit the tension between intimacy and exposure,belongingand estrangement. What it means to find a community, but also the daily costs associated with visibility”.
His paintingsoffering intimate views into the imagined lives of young, queer South Asian men in New York, where he has lived most of his adult life,aretenderand sensual representations of cosmopolitan urban life.Evocative colour palettes and references to art history add a fantastical element to his narratives. The Bar on 13thStreet(2019) depicts a bartender sporting braids, a gold bangle, nail polish, andribbons, drawing on different sources, from the dimly lit scenes of 17thcentury Dutch tavern paintings to the more overt reference to Édouard Manet’sA Bar at the Folies-Bergère,inthe Courtauld’s owncollection.InBar Boy(2019),which evokes thenightlife in New York’s East Village, a young man’s face illuminated by his smartphone as he stands isolatedand distractedin a bustlingclub.
Another subject on display is a series that Toor began in 2019, which addresses the experiences of immigrants at border control. Toor’s personal experience has informed these works that depict marginalised individuals’encounterswhen crossing borders, and their senses of freedom or restriction.InMan with Face Creams and Phone Plug(2019), a man with his head down awaits a customs official’s inspection ofhis belongings,laid out on a table.Otherportraitsare depicted inGroup B(2020) andCitizens(2022).
Toor’swork is rooted in a deep engagement with and admiration for the Old Masters, in particular Baroque and 18thcentury painting, and the Courtauld isamuseum heparticularlyadmires. His paintings draw on a broad range of historic and contemporary stylistic references, from European art historytothe Mughal School,but alsocontemporary painting, photography, and graphic novels.The Joke(2024) evokes Parisianfin de siècle nightlife while ironically presenting a contemporary, tourist experience.InMuseum Boys(2021), the dandyish fashion on view – a buckled wide-brim hat, a shawl, a pearl earring – recall Vermeer, as two male figures stand looking at a vitrine containing a pink shoe, a half-naked sleeping man, and aDuchamp-likeinverted urinal.Ghost Ball(2023), one of the artist’s largest and most ambitious paintings, from the Pinault Collection,presents a group offiguresdancingto the sound of musicians, inspired by the masterpieceDancing Villagers(c.1730), attributed torenownedartist Pandit Seu who worked inIndia in the 18thcentury.
Salman Toor: Someone Like Youfeatures key loans from major public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York;National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Baltimore Museum of Art; Dallas Museum of Arts;and the Pinault Collection,as well as private collections.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a display in the GilbertandIldiko Butler Drawings Gallery ofToor’s works on paper,includingFag Puddle in Vitrine(2021),acquiredby the Courtauld in 2024.The displayshowcasesToor’s mastery of drawing and the way it informs his practice as a painter.
Salman Toor’s first majormuseumsolo exhibition,Salman Toor: HowWill I Knowtook place at the Whitney Museumin New Yorkin 2020. In 2022NoOrdinary Loveopened at the Baltimore Museum of Art,and travelled to the Tampa Museum of Art, the Honolulu Museum of Art, and the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA in 2023-2024. A suite of his works was featured in the 60thVenice Biennale in 2024.
The exhibitionis accompanied by a new catalogue, edited byDr Elena Crippa, Senior CuratorofContemporaryat the Courtauld Gallery,with contributions byRichard Meyer,Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History, Department of Art and Art History,Stanford University, California; and Aziz Sohail, a curatorresearcher,and Teaching Fellow with the Department of Fine Art, Monash University, Melbourne.
This exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery has received Lead Support from the Bukhman Foundationand the Salman Toor Exhibition Circle, with Additional Support from the Ryan Taylor Collection.The exhibition media partner isAnother Manand Dazed.
Courtauld Memberscan enjoy the exhibition without the crowds at a preview on Thursday 1 October, 14:00 – 18:00,and alsoget free unlimited entry to all exhibitions, access to presale tickets, priority booking to selected events, advance notice of art history short courses, exclusive events, discounts and more. Join atcourtauld.ac.uk/members
2 October 2026 – 10 Jan 2027
Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries, Floor 3
2 October 2026 – 10 Jan 2027
Gilbert andIldikButler Drawings Gallery, Floor 1
Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (last entry 17:15).
Temporary Exhibition tickets (including entry to our Permanent Collection and displays) from £16. Courtauld Members and 18s andunder gofree. Other concessions available.
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