If you’ve been meaning to see Gauguin at Tate Modern or Diaghilev at the V&A, now’s your last chance. Many high-profile London exhibitions are closing over the next fortnight to make way for exciting new shows.

These exhibitions are all in their final days - catch them while you can!

Closing 9 January 2011:

• Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes at the V&A
• Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty at Somerset House
• Move: Choreographing You at the Hayward Gallery

Closing 16 January 2011:

• Gauguin: Maker of Myth at Tate Modern
• Eadweard Muybridge at Tate Britain
• Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals at the National Gallery
• Damián Ortega: The Independent at the Barbican
• Rachel Whiteread: Drawings at Tate Britain

With only two days to go until the opening of Tate Modern’s Gauguin exhibition, excitement is building. If the turnout at this morning’s press view is anything to go by, the show will be popular.

Gauguin: Maker of Myth combines Gauguin’s lush, colourful paintings of Tahiti and Brittany with some lesser-known work, including wood carvings, ceramics and books.

There are two rooms dedicated to the life and times of Gauguin, which build a picture of the late-19th century world he inhabited. You’ll see family photos, letters, private view invitations, exhibition posters and press cuttings.  

It’s fascinating to learn how Gauguin transformed himself from a stockbroker and family man into a bohemian artist.

One of my highlights was the carved wooden door from Gauguin’s house on the remote island of Hiva-Oa, which he named Maison du Jouir, or House of Pleasure, in order to provoke his neighbours.

This is the first major London exhibition devoted to Gauguin in more than 50 years. Don’t miss this landmark show!

Gauguin: Maker of Myth is at Tate Modern from 30 September to 16 January 2011

Every September, the current crop of London exhibitions close to make way for exciting new shows. That means it’s your last chance to see some of the summer’s hottest exhibitions…

Closing on 5 September:

• Rude Britannia: British Comic Art
• Ernesto Neto
• The New Décor
• Francis Alys
• Urban Africa – David Adjaye’s Photographic Journey
• Sustainable Futures

Closing later this month:

• Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes, Discoveries – 12 Sep
• The Surreal House – 12 Sep
• Magnificent Maps – 19 Sep
• Wolfgang Tillmans – 19 Sep
• BP Portrait Award – 19 Sep
• Sargent and the Sea – 26 Sep

But don’t worry, there’s plenty to look forward to this autumn. Major new exhibitions include Gauguin, Treasures from Budapest, Serge Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, and the Turner Prize.

“The purpose of the exhibition is to introduce a complex and challenging artist to a 21st century audience,” said curator Christine Riding.

“Gauguin’s rather colourful life looms as much in the public’s imagination as his art.”

When the show opens in September, you’ll be able to find out more about Gauguin’s bohemian lifestyle through his letters, sketch books and memoirs.

The display even includes carved door panels from the Maison du Jouir (House of Sensual Delight) where Gauguin died.

Plus, you’ll be able to admire more than 100 of Gauguin’s works, including paintings, woodcuts, ceramics, carvings and decorated objects.

Gauguin is at Tate Modern from 30 September 2010 to 16 January 2011.