2025 marked 100 years of Art Deco, and to celebrate, a wave of brilliant new exhibitions popped up. A couple of the best are sticking around into 2026, and they’re absolutely worth planning a trip for.
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
1925-2025: One Hundred Years of Art Deco (until 26 April 2026)
This exhibition celebrates the moment Art Deco really came into its own, back in 1925 with the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. To mark the centenary, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs has pulled together a beautifully staged show that brings the style to life.
Drawing on its own rich collections, this exhibition showcases iconic Art Deco pieces across over 1,000 works representing fashion, furniture, graphic arts, architecture, transport and jewellery. This also includes more than 80 stunning objects from Carier, alongside a spotlight on three key figures of the movement: Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, and Jean-Michel Frank.
Highlights for us include:
This wonderful Sonia Delaunay jacket, circa 1925.
Images: Courtesy of Emma Taylor
The study-library designed by Pierre Chareau for the “French Embassy” pavilion of the 1925 exhibition – desk taking centre stage but also the beautiful Mermaid rug by Jean Lurçat
Images: Courtesy of Emma Taylor
One of the real showstoppers is a series of life-size interior models of a new Orient Express (scheduled for 2027) which has been redesigned by artistic director Maxime d’Angeac. These life size mockups are shown alongside a 1926 version from the museum’s collection — a brilliant way to see how Art Deco continues to inspire.
Images: Courtesy of Emma Taylor
London Transport Museum, London
Art deco: the golden age of poster design
Another standout is a blockbuster show at the London Transport Museum, which dives into how Art Deco shaped graphic poster design. The exhibition brings together over 100 transport posters and poster artworks from the 1920s and 1930s – many of which are rarely seen – alongside ceramics, fashion pieces, cosmetic compacts and even specially commissioned short films.
It’s a fascinating look at how Art Deco didn’t just influence poster design but helped shape London’s identity and visual heritage too.
Highlights for us include:
Seeing our patron Bevis Hillier’s original book in pride of place. It was published in 1968 and helped popularise the term ‘Art Deco’ as a descriptor of a particular style.
Image: Courtesy of Lucy Jane Santos
Poster by Verney L Danvers, 1926.
Image courtesy of London Transport Museum
We love seeing how Art Deco didn’t stop in the 1930s, and this is a perfect example. This Art Deco–inspired moquette was designed by Pat Barrow in 1994 and used during the refurbishment of the 1972 Tube stock on the Bakerloo line. We were also interested to note that the coach seating moquette for Victoria Coach Station in 2022 was influenced by Art Deco too -proof (if any were needed) that the style still had plenty of life left in it.
Image: Courtesy of Lucy Jane Santos
And finally, the really big excitement for ADSUK: our Chair, Lucy Jane Santos, and Treasurer, Emma Bastin, both feature in one of the exhibition’s short films – a proud moment for us and not to be missed. Emma also gave a sell-out talk “Art deco and the Underground: design, dreams and the rise of modern Britain’ in December.
Coming up:
Museum late: art deco
Friday 20 March 2026
“Immerse yourself in the elegance of art deco at this after-hours event. Guests will enjoy after-hours access to the new Art deco: the golden age of poster design exhibition and hop on our buses and trains, including an original, stunningly restored 1938 train car. Full programme to be announced later nearer the event.”