All of the art museums in London have free entry for permanent collections and also host excellent temporary exhibitions worth their ticket prices. Some may be well-known locations, and others more niche, but all are beautiful and brilliant. Discover the best London art museums with us!
Lesser known is The Wallace Collection. It is in the sumptuous former townhouse Hertford House, in Manchester Square. The interiors are adorned with silk wall coverings and crammed with treasures, from suits of armor to Titians and Fragonards.
You might also like to visit Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest public art gallery in England where you can see Baroque paintings and British portraits from Tudor times to the 19th century, as well as temporary exhibitions.
Design
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world’s leading museum of art, design, and performance. From fashion to furniture there is no end of wonders to explore in its 145 galleries. London is also home to The Design Museum, which is dedicated to contemporary design. If you’re looking for a smaller museum to visit there is always the colorful Fashion and Textile Museum or the tranquil Garden Museum.
Even smaller is 575 Wandsworth Road, which was the home of Kenyan poet Khadambi Asalache. It features hand-cut Moorish-influenced fretwork, illustrations of the African wilderness, and a collection of 19th-century English lustreware.
The British Museum is an obvious destination if you have an interest in culture, history, and heritage. However, there are other fascinating archives and collections to go to. In Brixton, the Black Cultural Archives addresses African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Or there is also the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, focusing on Jewish and immigrant contributions to British art. If you’re interested in the early history of London, go and visit the Roman Mithraeum, a temple to the mystery god Mithras.
London is full of fabulous green spaces, so why not combine art and spending time outdoors?
The Royal Museums Greenwich allow you to “discover amazing stories of the sea, space, history, and creativity” amid the expansive Greenwich Park. There is the Cutty Sark Ship, the National Maritime Museum, The Queen’s House (home to an art collection of international renown), and the Royal Observatory (the home of Greenwich Mean Time as well as a planetarium).
Also starting in Greenwich, you can follow The Line Walk all the way to Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, ArcelorMittal Orbit, at the Olympic Park. The Line Walk is a footpath through East London visiting a trail of 20 monumental sculptures.
If you can’t make it all the way out to the edges of London and want to be more touristy in central, you can squeeze in a look at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park or enjoy the outdoor art in that area, such as Still Water by Nic Fiddian-Green, the numerous statues and memorials, or the graffiti attributed to Banksy.
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Isla graduated with a first class BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge in 2018. After university she spent a year in Japan, where she interned as a curatorial assistant at the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum. Recently, Isla completed a History of Art MA with Distinction at Birkbeck College, University of London. She currently lives in London with her husband, siamese cats and baby.
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