Beyond the National Gallery and Tate: Best London Art Museums

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!

Famous Artworks in Fabulous Places

The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Academy of Arts, and The Tates (Modern and Britain) are all top destinations for famous artworks and fantastic afternoons in London art museums.

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.

Artist-Specific Destinations

If you want to visit the artworks in the homes of their originators or collectors why not explore The Freud Museum, the final home of Sigmund Freud, or Hogarth’s House, the home of a famous artist and an engraver. There is also the peaceful Kelmscott House, a Georgian mansion that was the London home of William Morris, the textile designer, poet and artist.

History and Heritage

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.

Excellent Exhibitions

The Barbican and Somerset House always have great events and exciting photography exhibitions. There are also more intimate galleries like BASTIAN (which has shown Picasso and Beuys), the White Cube (with shows of Damien Hirst), and the Victoria Miro (with works of Yayoi Kusama).

Above you can see a picture of the installation For Prudence by Dan Flawin at BASTIAN.

Art Outside

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.