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Tate Britain Review

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Tate Britain

Address: Millbank, Westminster, London, SW1P 4RG | Map It
Phone: 020/7887-8888; 020/7887-8008 recorded information
www.tate.org.uk/britain

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: Westminster and Royal London

Write a review | Avg. member rating: 5.0/5

Fodor's Review:

Although the building is not quite as awe-inspiring as Tate Modern, its younger sister on the south bank of the Thames, Tate Britain's lovely, bright galleries hold only a fraction of the Modern's crowds, making it a pleasant, hands-on place to explore great British art from 1500 to the present. It also hosts the annual Turner Prize exhibition, with its accompanying furor about the state of contemporary art, from about October to January each year. First opened in 1897, funded by the sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate, the museum includes the Linbury Galleries on the lower floors, which stage temporary exhibitions (they can get busy), whereas the upper floors show the permanent collection. Each room has a theme and displays key works by major British artists: Van Dyck, Hogarth, and Reynolds rub shoulders with Rossetti, Sickert, Hockney, and Bacon. Not to be missed is the generous selection of Constable landscapes.

The Turner Bequest consists of J. M. W. Turner's personal collection; he left it to the nation on condition that the works be displayed together. The James Stirling-designed Clore Gallery (to the right of the main gallery) opened in 1987 to fulfill Turner's wish, and it should not be missed. You can rent an audio guide with commentaries by curators, experts, and some of the artists themselves.

Cost: Free, exhibitions £3-£10
Open: Daily 10-5:50, last entry at 5
Tube: Pimlico (signposted 5-min walk)

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Member Reviews and Ratings

Reviewed by bachslunch from US on 4/6/08
After the National Gallery, this is the best of London's large art museums. Painting collection is pretty much all works by British painters ending at the 19th century, but still plenty of fine stuff here, especially by Joseph Turner.