A new Spidey film, a second season of Gotham noir, a fresh Ariana Grande record and two exhibitions worth crossing a city for. Here’s the week ahead in Europe.
The Odyssey has had its moment. The week ahead is here to pull you into stranger worlds, from Richard Dadd’s unsettling fairy paintings to Tom Holland back in the suit. Plenty for the whole family, and plenty for anyone going alone.
Exhibitions
Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam
Until 25 October 2026, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Dadd’s densely detailed fairy paintings work like doorways. Steeped in legend and memory, they were also how the Victorian artist confronted his own delusions. He killed his father in 1843 and spent the rest of his life in psychiatric institutions, painting throughout, imagining worlds well beyond the room he was confined to. The Royal Academy brings together more than 100 works to tell both stories at once.
Andy Warhol: Line and Image
Until 10 January 2027, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris
Say Warhol and most people picture the Pop art, the colour, the repetition. But he drew constantly, thousands of times over the course of his career, and it was drawing that gave him room to test ideas and push them somewhere new. Pencil and paper made the Warhol we remember. The Musée du Luxembourg has gathered roughly 150 drawings, from portraits to caricatures to self-promotional portfolios, alongside paintings and silkscreen prints on paper. Warhol devotees and aspiring artists will both get something out of it.
Also worth noting: War is Hell: Childhood in War, a free exhibition on children growing up in conflict from 1914 to the present, opens at the Imperial War Museum in London on 31 July.
Movies
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
In cinemas from 29 July
Tom Holland returns for his fourth solo outing. Picking up after 2021’s No Way Home, where Doctor Strange wiped Peter Parker from the world’s memory, Brand New Day has the weight of Parker’s obligations producing some odd transformations. Crime lords and a villain still being kept under wraps push him towards one of the nastiest threats he has faced.
Also worth noting: a thin week for releases otherwise, but London-based David Lynch fans should look at the annual A Gathering of the Angels convention. Tickets are on sale and some guests have yet to be announced.
TV series
Batman: Caped Crusader (Season 2)
Prime Video, 31 July
If Prime Video’s Spider-Noir gave you a taste for grim comic book storytelling, this is the follow-up. Since premiering in 2024, the animated series has built a loyal audience on mature themes, pulp atmosphere and a genuine return to the source material. Season two stays with Bruce Wayne’s early years as Batman, working out who to trust in a thoroughly rotten Gotham.
Also worth noting: Furious, a psychological crime series with Emmy Rossum as an FBI agent chasing a female serial killer, is streaming on Disney+.
Music
Ariana Grande: Petal
31 July
Glinda has left the building, and Grande’s eighth studio album is here. Some of that character lingers, though: this is a record about letting go of negativity and getting through the hard part. The title says the rest. Music to bloom to, built from an uplifting mix of pop and R&B.
Also worth noting: Shaboozey releases his conceptual Western album The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales on 31 July.
