Tate Britain
The Tate displays works from all the great British artists piecing together the history Britain from the 16th Century to the present day. It also houses the largest collection of Turner paintings in the World.
The extensive Tate collection is split over four locations; Tate Britain, the national gallery of British art, Tate Modern, the main gallery of modern and contemporary art, Tate Liverpool, the largest modern art gallery outside Liverpool and Tate St Ives a collection of contemporary art in Cornwall .
Tate Britain formerly the Tate Gallery was founded in 1897 by sugar baron Henry Tate. Its displays are set out chronologically detailing the history of British art and documenting the history of Britain through art. Beginning with Portraits from the Tudor period of the 16th Century the collection features great rural landscapes and fabulous works bringing the great battles of the Napoleonic period to life.
All the British greats are featured from Stubbs, Hogarth, Blake, Constable, Gainsborough and Turner. Famous paintings include John William Waterhouse’s Lady of Shalot, Constable’s Flatford Mill and of course the Turner collection. When he died in 1851 Turner bequeathed around 300 oil paintings and 20,000 water colours to the nation, displays of which can be found here in the Glore Gallery. Tate Britain also houses the winner of the Turner Prize for modern art, which usually causes consternation in the British art world.
Like the other great galleries of the country, admission to the Tate is free. Four free, guided tours are run a day and a very speedy boat runs from Tate Britain to Tate Modern, though this isn’t free.
Tube Station: Pimlico
