London Art Galleries

I’ve been interning at a publisher in London for the past few weeks, and during the weekends and bank holidays I have managed to do a fair bit of exploring. This post will focus on the Art Galleries that I’ve visited. There will be information on the admission, any exhibitions on at the moment, and also where the nearest tube and which line to take. I hope this helps people plan their own tour of London’s Art Galleries.

National Gallery

I visited National Gallery a couple of times during my time in London, one of those times was conincidentally on St George’s Day where there were plenty of celebrations, including the Feast of St George (basically, a lot of BBQs!).

Favourite: Canaletto (1697-1768). Some of my favourites of his work are: A Regatta on the Grand Canal, Interior of the Rotunda at Ranelagh, The Doge’s Palace and Palazzo Grimani. Most of these are displayed in Room 38. I would love to visit Italy; Rome, Venice and Florence especially, and Canaletto exquisitely captures the beauty of Venice in his paintings.

Admission: Free.

Current exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano: The Credit Suisse Exhibition (£16), ends 25 June 2017.

Nearest Tube: Charing Cross (Bakerloo and Northern) and Leicester Square (Northern and Piccadilly).

National Portrait Gallery

Around the corner from the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery.

Favourite: A favourite of mine from the Potrait Gallery was The House of Commons, 1833 by Sir George Hayter. Having studied Modern British History as part of my Humanities and Arts degree, and gaining a Distinction certificate for my work, I was immediately drawn to the huge canvas that dominated the room full of other British politicians. The Great Reform Act of 1832 is a big moment in British politics as it increased the pool of voters’ by a to address the years of criticism of the electoral system.

Admission: Free.

Current Exhibition: Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun (£10 Adult), until 29 May 2017.

Nearest Tube: Charing Cross (Bakerloo and Northern) and Leicester Square (Northern and Piccadilly).

NOW Gallery

The Iris Exhibition was wonderful. There were so many great angles to capture the beauty, whether that was from the ground looking up, from the side, or from the floor above looking down. Sadly the exhibition has concluded but there are lots of photos on Instagram if you wish to see the wonder of Rebecca Louise Law’s work.

Admission: Free.

Current Exhibition: The Island Icinori (19 May – 25 June 2017).

Nearest Tube: North Greenwich (Jubilee).

Photographers’ Gallery

A unique and a comparitively small gallery exhibiting prints from photographers from all over the world.

Favourite: My favourite was the series of prints from Awoiska van der Molen. She has gone to remote locations and taken abstract-y and mysterious photos, and in this particular set of prints, there is no title and no indication of the location which only adds to the story behind her work.

Admission: Free until midday, £4 after.

Current Exhibition: Deutsche Borse, until 11 June 2017.

Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central, Victoria)

Tate Modern

Favourite: Los Moscos by Mark Bradford (2004), whose large scale collage of materials depicted an aerial view from a Los Angeles skyscraper. I really like artwork that is made up of a collage of things, there are some other worthy mentions, but Los Moscos is my favourite my far. It is part of the Living Cities theme, which I think is a perfect category for this piece to be placed under.

Admission: Free.

Current Exhibition: Wolfgang Tillmans (£11.30 Adult), until 11 June 2017.

Nearest Tube: London Bridge (Jubilee and Northern), Southwark (Jubilee) and Blackfriars (Circle and District).

Tate Britain

Favourite: Cerith Wyn Jones’ sculpture Forms in Space…By Light (in time). It took 25 people, 19 days to install as there are over 2km of neon lighting. This view was from the far end of the gallery looking through a hoop of neon, but there are many other vantage points where you can take brilliant photos of the sculpture.

Admission: Free.

Current Exhibition: David Hockney (£17.70 Adult), until 29 May 2017.

Nearest Tube: Pimlico (Victoria).

Saatchi Gallery

A very different art gallery compared to the others, even Tate Modern which embraces contemporary art. Here you’ll see art on screens, and they’ll flick to other pieces of work. You’ll also see selfies blown up onto a canvas, and also a very unique art piece where you move in front of camera mounted on top of canvas and it displays your movements onto the canvas.

Admission: Free.

Current Exhibition: From Selfie to Self-Expression, until 30 May 2017.

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (Circle and District).

And…Street Art in Shoreditch

The Humpo Show | Richard