Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new edition of its Art Map, showcasing the rich and diverse Art on the Underground commissions that have joined existing artworks on the TfL network over the last 10 years, as Art on the Underground presents pop-up talks to the public this weekend.
Since its conception in 2000, Art on the Underground has commissioned site-specific works on the TfL network that examine themes of community, space and place, bringing unexpected interactions and new perspectives to the millions who travel on London’s transport network each year. New commissions are added to the TfL network on an annual basis to sit alongside permanent works, which encompass historic commissions, including Henry Moore’s first public commission from 1929.
A new leaflet launching today updates Art on the Underground’s 2016 Art Map. It is a comprehensive guide to 26 permanent artworks on the London Underground, highlighting six major permanent commissions that have launched over the last decade by artists including Alexandre da Cunha, Chantal Joffe and Lucy McKenzie. The Art Map provides images and texts for each work featured, including details of where to find each artwork. The Art Map is free and available in all Zone 1 London Underground stations, as well as in stations with Art on the Underground commissions outside of Zone 1, including Brixton, Seven Sisters and Sudbury Town.
To mark the launch, Art on the Underground will present a programme of free pop-up talks in stations this Sunday (8 March). Amelia Gentleman, journalist and daughter of nonagenarian artist David Gentleman, will speak about her father’s work Cross for Queen Eleanor at Charing Cross station, and British Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong will discuss his 2022 roundel designs at Westminster station. Art on the Underground lead Eleanor Pinfield will introduce the mosaic Angels of History, by artist duo Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings, at St James’s Park station. With time to travel from station to station between the talks, the public is welcome to attend one or more events.
Later this month artist Phoebe Boswell will launch a new photographic artwork at Bethnal Green and Notting Hill Underground stations as the first of five commissions in Art on the Underground’s 2026 programme. Reed is the sponsor for the five upcoming artworks, as part of its ongoing commitment to Art on the Underground.
Art Map, 2026. Photo – Benedict Johnson, 2026-2
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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, said: “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.”
James Reed, CBE, 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.”
The details for the pop-up talks are as follows:
Amelia and David Gentleman, Cross for Queen Eleanor, Charing Cross, 11:30 and 12:30
Amelia Gentleman, journalist and daughter of nonagenarian artist, engraver and watercolourist David Gentleman, will discuss the 1978 series of panels on the Northern line platforms portraying the construction of Queen Eleanor’s Cross. Almost 50 years since it was installed, Amelia and David will reflect on how the work came to be, and its resonances today
Larry Achiampong, PAN AFRICAN FLAG FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS’ ALLIANCE (UNION), Westminster, 12:15 and 13:15
British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong will discuss his 2022 artwork which re-imagines the London Underground roundel logo, replacing the red and blue design with Pan-African colours. Achiampong will share how a three-year project sought to redefine an instantly recognisable symbol for London, acknowledging the contributions and presence of African diasporic people
Eleanor Pinfield introduces Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings’ Angels of History, St James’s Park, 13:00 and 14:00
Programme Director of Art on the Underground, Eleanor Pinfield will introduce Quinlan & Hastings’s first mosaic artwork, installed in 2024, which reflects on a period of reactionary nostalgia in the UK. In conversation with a lineage of mosaic works found on the Tube, Angels of History sits alongside historic works commissioned for 55 Broadway, London Underground’s headquarters for 80 years
Last year, Art on the Underground celebrated its 25th anniversary and launched works including an installation at Stratford station by Ahmet Öğüt, which reflects on art’s power to save and transform lives.
Art on the Underground’s 2026 programme is inspired by subterranean histories, lost voices and hidden work, exploring historic imbalances under-representation and reframing public space. Following the launch of Phoebe Boswell’s photographic commission later this month, American artist Ellen Gallagher will explore colonial landscapes and marine mythology in her design for the 42nd pocket Tube map in June.
The third audio artwork commission at Waterloo Underground station will then run for 10 days in the summer with the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, by London-based composer, artist and DJ Ain Bailey. In September, a largescale artwork by Scottish painter Caroline Walker, spotlighting women who work on the TfL network at night, will be introduced at Stratford station.
