The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Shows

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 13 Dec

Louise Bourgeois Serpentine Gallery

Autobiographical installations from the surrealist sculptress feature a giant mother/ spider presiding over images of spinning and weaving, restoration and decay. To 10 Jan

Bridget Riley Abbott Hall, Kendal

A retrospective of Bridget Riley's work from her early Sixties Op Art, moving from rippling monochromes to colour, stripes and diagonals. To 31 Jan

Edward Burne-Jones Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

The people's Pre-Raphaelite centenary exhibition gathers together many favourites such as King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid. To 17 Jan

Chris Ofili Whitworth Gallery, Manchester

Turner Prize winner Ofili (above) 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