London Art Galleries
Art Galleries & Art in London
As well as its superb and varied museums, London has some excellent art galleries to enjoy.
An artistic centre for hundreds of years, the capital draws visitors from all over the country and overseas for its annual exhibitions, shows and auctions.
London and Britain as a whole have always drawn artists from other countries who come to paint or in some cases, even settle on these shores.
Ai Weiwei and Paula Rego are two famous foreign artists now living and working in Britain, for example.
See a listing of art galleries in and around London.
National Gallery
The National Gallery, along with the nearby British Museum, is one of London's richest repositories of classical art.
Located on the north side of Trafalgar Square in the center of London, the National Gallery holds over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to the early 20th century.
The National Gallery was founded in 1824 when the British government of the day purchased the 38 painting collection of the businessman John Julius Angerstein (1732-1823) on his death. Later private donations added to the size of the collection and gifts account for two thirds of the paintings on display or in storage.
The building on Trafalgar Square was designed by William Wilkins and constructed between 1832 and 1838. Only the façade is original from this time as the National Gallery underwent a series of demolitions, renovations and extensions over time including the Neoclassical Barry Rooms by Edward Middleton Barry and central staircase and entrance hall designed by James Taylor in the late 19th century.
Collections at the National Gallery cover the period between the mid-13th century to the early 20th century with all the major traditions of Western European painting represented from religious art of the 13th-15th centuries to Renaissance Italy to the French Impressionists.
The paintings of the 13th to 15th century include works by Bellini, Botticelli, Dürer, Mantegna, Memling, Lippi, Uccello and van Eyck. The 16th century is represented by paintings by such great painters as Bruegel, Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. Caravaggio, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and Velázquez and Vermeer are some of the artists representing the 17th century. Works from the 18th to early 20th century are by such artists as Canaletto, Cézanne, Constable, Degas, Goya, Monet, Turner and Van Gogh.
Dulwich Picture Gallery
The Dulwich Picture Gallery is a historic art gallery located in Dulwich Village in the London Borough of Southwark. It is renowned for being one of the world's first purpose-built public art galleries, designed to house a collection of paintings for public viewing.
The gallery was founded by Sir Francis Bourgeois, a French-born artist, and his business partner, Noël Desenfans, in 1811. It was originally established as a public art gallery to display their collection of paintings, which they intended to bequeath to Dulwich College (a local educational institution). The building is itself a work of art. It was designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837) and is known for its innovative use of light and space.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery houses a significant collection of European Old Master paintings, with a focus on works from the 17th and 18th centuries. The collection includes works by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Gainsborough, Poussin, and Canaletto, among others. One of its most famous paintings is The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez.
Kenwood House
Kenwood House, in Highgate on Hampstead Heath in north London, is one of England's finest so-called "country houses".
It is now no longer in private ownership and is managed by English Heritage after the house and its important Iveagh Bequest of classical art was left to the nation in 1929.
The collection contains paintings by Frans Hals, Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck, J. M. W. Turner and Vermeer as well as other Old Masters which were donated by Edward Guinness, the 1st Earl Iveagh, in the 1920s.
Edward Guinness was once the owner of and made his fortune from Guinness Breweries before it became a public company in 1886. He was the richest man in Ireland at the time.
The house has been restored to look and feel as it once did in the 18th century when the Scottish architect Robert Adam (1728-1792) worked on the buildings and decorated the interiors with consummate skill and finesse.
National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery adjacent to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square dates from the mid-19th century. It houses a vast collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people, as well as photographs, prints, caricatures, statues and drawings. Indeed, the collection is the largest of its kind in the world with over 200,000 items. There are regional branches of the NPG at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and Montacute House in Somerset.
The National Portrait Gallery was closed for a period until 2023 for its major re-development project Inspiring People. The project witnessed a full re-presentation of the Collection, as well as a refurbishment of the building, the creation of public spaces, and a new Learning Centre.
Newport Street Gallery
Newport Street Gallery is the brainchild of British artist Damien Hirst. It opened in 2015 in a former carpentry and scenery workshop for London's theatres in Vauxhall, south of the river.
The building was redesigned by the architectural firm Caruso St John and won the the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2016. The gallery is spacious, minimalist and on two levels.
The gallery showcases Hirst's private art collection as well as staging temporary exhibitions. Hirst's Murderme collection has over 3,000 works including many pieces of what became known as "Britart". These include pieces by such artists as Francis Bacon, Banksy, Tracey Emin, Richard Hamilton, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas, and Haim Steinbach.
The Pharmacy 2 bar was designed by Hirst and is a revival of his Pharmacy restaurant that was once a hip eatery in the Notting Hill of the 1990's.
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 and is situated in Burlington House.
Dedicated to the visual arts, the Royal Academy was the brainchild of sculptor Henry Cheere.
As well as displays of both modern and classical art, the Royal Academy holds regular lectures and debates on art, architecture and design.
Its temporary and summer exhibitions of mainly contemporary art draw thousands of visitors. One of the most famous and controversial was "Sensation" back in 1997 showcasing the art of Young British Artists owned by Charles Saatchi.
The Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea was opened by the collector Charles Saatchi in 1985 to display his superb collection of contemporary art to the public.
Saatchi's collection is now housed in Chelsea in part of the 19th century Duke of York's Headquarters. The original Saatchi collection began in St John's Wood. It moved to the County Hall on the South Bank before relocating to its present site in 2008.
The Saatchi Gallery has a reputation for exhibiting unknown or little-known artists and is at the forefront of the contemporary art scene in the UK. Many of the artists shown at the Saatchi gallery often go on to enjoy international fame.
The gallery is free to visit and is open 7 days a week from 10 am-6 pm.
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery in London's Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park is dedicated to modern art.
The Serpentine Gallery opened in 1970 in a 1930's brick pavilion in Kensington Gardens.
The gallery has hosted exhibitions by some of the world's most famous contemporary artists including Andy Warhol, Paula Rego, Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst and Gustav Metzger.
The Serpentine Gallery's lawn space hosts an annual architectural piece by a different architect each year.
The British artist and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay's memorial work dedicated to Princess Diana is located at the entrance to the Serpentine Gallery - a series of eight benches and a carved stone circle.
Serpentine Sackler Gallery
Five minutes walk from the Serpentine Gallery is the Serpentine Sackler Gallery.
With 900 square metres of new gallery, restaurant and social space, the eye-catching structure in Kensington Gardens is a popular cultural destination in the heart of the city. Designed by Zaha Hadid the gallery offers a mix of contemporary art, architecture, dance, design, fashion, film, literature, music, performance and technology.
Tate Britain
Tate Britain in Millbank on the banks of the River Thames was formerly the Tate Gallery. It is one of several Tate galleries in Britain including Tate Modern, also in London, Tate Liverpool in Liverpool and Tate St Ives in St Ives, Cornwall.
Tate Britain's collection focuses on mainly British art since the Tudor period. It has an extensive collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner who left his own collection on his death to the nation. The annual, usually controversial, Turner Prize hosted by the Tate is named in his honour.
The huge collection is rotated and includes work by such classical and contemporary artists as Francis Bacon, Peter Blake, William Blake, John Constable, Tracey Emin, Thomas Gainsborough, David Hockney, William Hogarth, Anna Lea Merritt, Henry Moore, Joshua Reynolds, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Singer Sargent, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
A high-speed boat from Millbank Millennium Pier runs along the Thames to Tate Modern enabling visitors to see both galleries in a day without having to take the tube.
Tate Modern
The Tate Modern is one of the UK's top three tourist attractions and provides around £100 million in economic benefits to London every year.
It is housed in the former Bankside Power Station designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
The Tate Modern showcases works of international modern and contemporary art dating from 1900 to the present.
The permanent collection is displayed on levels three and five of the building, while level four hosts larger temporary exhibitions and a smaller space on level two houses work by contemporary artists.
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is housed in Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former London mansion of the Marquesses of Hertford. The family still have their ancestral seat in Ragley Hall near Stratford upon Avon in the Midlands.
The collection of over 5,500 items includes paintings, ceramics, furniture, sculpture and European and Oriental arms and armour. It belonged to Richard Seymour-Conway, the very wealthy 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870), who spent most of his life in France acquiring now priceless European fine art and other decorative pieces.
The works were left to the unmarried Seymour-Conway's illegitimate son, Richard Wallace, who had served as his father's secretary and also later expanded his huge acquisitions. Wallace's wife left the whole collection to the nation in 1897.
Many of the paintings date from ancien regime France and were purchased by Wallace and other collectors in sales after the French Revolution.
Highlights include the The Laughing Cavalier (1624) by Frans Hals, several works by François Boucher and The Swing (1767) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, considered a masterpiece of Roccoco painting. The Wallace Collection is free and an absolute must for lovers of European fine arts.
William Morris Gallery
The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow in east London, is one of the city's hidden gems. Housed in what was once Morris' childhood home, it is dedicated to the life, work, and legacy of William Morris (1834-1896), the famous British designer, poet, and social activist. The gallery's collection spans both the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Aesthetic Movement, both of which Morris played a key role in shaping. In 2012, the gallery underwent a major renovation to enhance the visitor experience and further showcase the beauty of Morris's work.
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