Art: The five best shows in London

1

Mirror Image National Gallery

A magpie's delight. Jonathan Miller curates a show of mirrors and shiny surfaces in painting, with virtuoso reflections from Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait to Helen Chadwick's Vanitas. To 3 Dec

2

Aubrey Beardsley V&A Museum

Displaying the short and glittering life - he died in 898 at 25 - of the master aesthete and illustrator of the decadent scene, with his uniquely sinuous and florid line. Drawings, prints and posters. To 0 Jan

3

Louise Bourgeois Serpentine Gallery

Autobiographical installations from the surrealist sculptress in which a giant mother/spider presides over images of spin and weave, restore and decay. To 0 Jan

4

Charlotte Salomon Royal Academy

First UK showing of Salomon's life in pictures. The 780 raw gouaches tell the story of the German Jewish girl's haste before Auschwitz. To 7 Jan

5

Duane Hanson Royal Festival Hall

Hanson's meticulously life-like figure sculptures find their perfect setting here. Ordinary people, cast from life, with props and accessories to match. To 7 Jan

... AND BEYOND

Bridget Riley Abott Hall, Kendal

A retrospective that spans Riley's career from her early Sixties Op Art fame onwards, moving from rippling monochromes to colour, stripes and diagonals. To 3 Jan

2

Thinking Aloud Kettle's Yard, Cambridge

Sculptor Richard Wentworth explores creative improvisation in art, design and everyday life with an assortment of rough drafts, plans, tryouts, make-shifts, prototypes and temporary solutions. To 3 Jan

3

Edward Burne-Jones Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

The people's Pre-Raphaelite - centenary exhibition gathers together many favourites, such as King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid. To 7 Jan

4

Chris Ofili Whitworth Gallery, Manchester

Turner Prize shortlistee, this painter is an upbeat original, his surfaces dense and decorative, with swirls of dots, eyes, Afros and black icons, and incorporating balls of elephant dung. To 24 Jan

5

Gustav Metzger MOMA, Oxford

A look at Metzger's role as artist, theorist and author of the Auto-destructive Art manifesto (959), including a restaging of his liquid- crystal light projections. To 0 Jan