London Underground's public art celebrated with new Art Map and 2026 programme

Published: 06 March 2026
The English Chronicle Desk
The English Chronicle Online

A new edition of the Art Map has been launched to help passengers discover permanent artworks across the London Underground network, as the capital celebrates a century of commissioning art for the Tube .

Transport for London’s updated guide highlights 26 permanent works across the network, with copies available in all Zone 1 stations and at stations outside central London that feature Art on the Underground commissions, including Brixton, Seven Sisters and Sudbury Town . The leaflet replaces the previous 2016 version and includes six major permanent commissions added over the last decade, providing images, background information and details on where each artwork can be found .

To mark the launch, a series of free pop-up talks took place last Sunday, giving the public a chance to hear directly from artists and curators . Amelia Gentleman spoke about her father David Gentleman’s work Cross for Queen Eleanor at Charing Cross station, while British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong discussed his 2022 roundel designs at Westminster station. Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, introduced Angels of History by Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings at St James’s Park station .

The celebration comes as Art on the Underground, which began in 2000, continues its 2026 programme with five major new commissions exploring subterranean histories, lost voices and hidden labour . The programme, sponsored by Reed, has been at the forefront of critically engaged public art for more than two decades, commissioning site-specific works that reflect on the changing nature of public space .

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “From murals in Brixton to The Arches on Gloucester Road and mysterious mazes across stations, for over a decade Art on the Underground has brought joy, inspiration and great art for free to the millions travelling across London. The updated free Art Map and fantastic series of pop-up events will enable Londoners and visitors to learn more about these inspiring works, as we continue to build a better London for everyone” .

Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, added: “Everyone benefits from the transformational powers of art, and our Art on the Underground programme takes pieces outside of a gallery context and into the public realm, where millions can see them as they travel around London. The pop-up talks this weekend are a fantastic opportunity to find out about the rich and layered context behind some of our permanent commissions, and we’re also encouraging people to pick up our updated Art Map to help them explore the network and our Art on the Underground commissions, and find the piece that speaks to them most” .

The tradition of art on the Underground dates back more than a century to Frank Pick, the visionary managing director of London Underground in the early 20th century . Pick pioneered the concept of total design, commissioning leading artists and designers to create posters for the rapidly expanding network . “Where there is life, there is art,” Pick declared in 1917 .

Pick’s ambition turned the Underground into one of London’s most important patrons of the arts . When a new headquarters was needed at 55 Broadway, he asked architect Charles Holden to collaborate with leading sculptors including Jacob Epstein, Eric Gill and Henry Moore to create powerful pieces for the building’s exterior . Moore’s work, created in 1929, was his first public commission and remains part of the network’s historic collection .

The 1920s and 1930s saw a flourishing of artistic work across the network, including Eric Aumonier’s sculpture The Archer at East Finchley, part of a progressive plan interrupted by the Second World War . In the 1960s, work started on the Victoria line, with London Transport collaborating with pioneering agency Design Research Unit to create distinctive tiled motifs giving each station its own identity . At Pimlico, for example, Peter Sedgley’s modern design riffed on work shown at the nearby Tate Gallery .

From the late 1970s, London Transport wanted each station’s design to be unique, commissioning extraordinary artworks including Eduardo Paolozzi’s vibrant mosaics at Tottenham Court Road, Robyn Denny’s ribbon-like designs at Embankment and David Gentleman’s woodcuts at Charing Cross . Paolozzi’s 1986 mosaics, covering almost a kilometre of walls, reflected his interest in mechanisation, urbanisation and popular culture .

The poster campaign, which began in 1908, produced more than 5,000 posters and exposed passengers to leading currents of artistic modernism . In 1928, critic Sir Lawrence Weaver compared the Underground to London’s prestigious galleries, writing that it “has provided the people of London with a picture gallery as fine in some ways … as the Tate or the National” .

In 2000, Platform for Art was launched as a dedicated art programme, initially focusing on temporary artworks on the disused platform at Gloucester Road station . The first piece commissioned was an elephant sculpture by Kendra Haste, now on permanent display at Waterloo station . In 2007, the programme was rebranded as Art on the Underground, expanding to temporary sites and permanent commissions .

Since 2004, artists have been commissioned to create covers for the pocket Tube map, one of the largest public art commissions in the UK with millions of copies printed . More than 35 different designs have been produced by British and international artists including Rachel Whiteread, Yayoi Kusama and Tracey Emin . The 41st cover, launched in June 2025, featured Map Projections by Agnes Denes, a leading pioneer of the environmental art movement .

In 2013, Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger created Labyrinth to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Underground, installing 270 unique artworks, one for every station . Recent permanent commissions include Alexandre da Cunha’s Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset at the new Battersea Power Station station, using rotating billboard mechanisms to echo the vertical bars measuring electricity output in the original power station’s control room .

James Reed, Chairman and CEO of Reed Employment, said: “We’re proud to sponsor Art on the Underground, a programme that gets into the heart of how we feel and experience London each day. For more than six decades, Reed has been part of the London story, strengthening communities and helping Londoners adapt to a changing world of work. This Art Map helps us tell that story, and celebrate the idea that art belongs in everyday life, which it most certainly does” .

This month, artist Phoebe Boswell will launch a new photographic artwork at Bethnal Green and Notting Hill Underground stations, the first of five new commissions in the 2026 programme . Inspired by local Black swimming communities, Boswell’s multi-layered photographic assemblages explore water as a site of healing, migratory trauma and collective power .

The 2026 programme continues throughout the year with an audio commission by Ain Bailey at Waterloo station in June, featuring an original composition recorded with experimental vocalist Elaine Mitchener and paying homage to more than 60 lost London cultural venues . In September, Scottish painter Caroline Walker will unveil a large-scale work at Stratford station spotlighting women working night shifts as Train Operators and Cleaners on the TfL network . In November, Hurvin Anderson will mark the 10th Brixton Mural commission, drawing upon his close connection to the area where he has held a studio since 1998 .

American artist Ellen Gallagher will create the 42nd pocket Tube map cover for summer 2026, exploring notions of sediment and hidden waterways running alongside Underground tunnels beneath the city’s surface .

Simon Murphy, a regular Tube passenger, told The English Chronicle: “You don’t always notice it when you’re rushing to work, but when you stop and look, the Underground is like a giant gallery. From the mosaics at Tottenham Court Road to the poems in the carriages, it makes the daily commute a bit more bearable. It’s part of what makes London special.”

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