Here is the list of museums that I always enjoy going to when I'm in London.
Somerset House & the Courtauld Gallery
The National Gallery & National Portrait Gallery
The Royal Academy of Arts
V&A ( Victoria & Albert museum)
Natural History Museum
Saatchi Gallery
The Estorick Collection
This gallery is on the South Bank, close to Waterloo Station and the London Eye. Hayward Gallery is always hosting temporary exhibitions, for example Space shifters which was part of the 50th anniversary, was extraordinary with art from Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, Leonor Antunes and Larry Bell to name a few. In 2022, I also went to see an exhibition on Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child.
The Tate Modern
This is one of my favourite, it's opposite the Millennium Bridge next to the Shakespeare's Globe. The gallery is free and you will get to see paintings, sculptures and installations from modern and contemporary artists from around the world.
Again check out the temporary exhibitions, you won't be disappointed. Here are some photos of the highlights in the past 5 years.
If you feeling a bit peckish go to the Tate Modern Restaurant not only do you get an amazing view of the Thames but the food is really tasty. You can either sit on the high stools facing the window for a small bite or book a table for a more hearty lunch. We mostly go for a quick bite as we have a tendency to eat again in a restaurant in the evening.
And if you are a member you have a space reserved just for you where you can also order some lunch.
Somerset House & the Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House & Courtauld Gallery are just the other side of the Thames in the area called the Strand.
The main attraction of Somerset House is the ice skating ring and pop up restaurants and bars in the courtyard during the winter. You also have some evenings called Skates Lates where the DJ takes over!
Once again you will find amazing exhibition taking place throughout the year and the permanent exhibition which focused on Impressionist and Post-impressionist paintings in the Courtauld Gallery.
The National Gallery & National Portrait Gallery
Those museums are on Trafalgar Square next to each other. The National Gallery is a lot busier so go there during the week if you can, but it is so worth it, with plenty of Vincent van Gogh, William Turner, Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet to name just a few. I'm such a fan of the two crabs oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, maybe it's because it reminds me of my holidays in Hejlsminde, Denmark.
Royal Academy of Arts
If you go to London during the summer make sure you go to the Royal Academy of Arts. Each year the Royal Academy organises the Summer Exhibition where most of the works are available to buy. These photos are from the 2023 edition.
V&A ( Victoria & Albert museum)
I saw an amazing exhibition at the V&A in 2019 on Christian Dior's collection.
This museum is specializes mostly in fashion. Their fashion collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of dress in the world, so it made perfectly sense to gather Christian Dior's incredible collection.
The temporary exhibitions that are on for the moment include a highlight of Naomi Campbell's career, Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection and lectures about 'Curating the Songbook Trail - Taylor Swift and the V&A' or 'Costuming Wicked' to name just a few.
Natural History Museum
Every time I used to go to London with my son when he was young, we invariably had to go to the Natural History Museum to check out the dinosaurs. 'What if they are new one?' was his argument to go there again, and how can you argue with a 4 year old.
So I must say, I have not been in ages but it is definitely worth if you want to 'Travel through 4.6 billion years of our planet's history and help protect its future' according to the Natural History Museum motto.
If you are there during the Christmas period, you can go ice skating with so many other people.
This museum is next to Holland Park and its Kyoto garden, I recommend you add it to your list when you go the Design Museum. You can enjoy the permanent exhibits but also check out the current exhibition. The last one I saw was 'Weird Sensation Fells Good: The world of ASMR'; it was definitely weird but my sister and I got the giggles and we were told off by our kids...
Lately, we saw the Barbie exhibition and next we will be going to see the World of Tim Burton.
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi gallery in Chelsea focused on contemporary art and culture. Temporary exhibitions range from Absolut Warhol to Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Boundless. The one exhibition 'Beyond the Streets' in 2023, with graffiti and street art, rule-breakers and mark-makers.
You also get to walk along King's Road for a bit of window shopping or a bite to eat.
The Estorick Collection
The Estorick Collection in a Georgian townhouse and focuses on Modern Italian Art from the first half of the 20th century. It's actually the only museum in Britain dedicated to modern Italian art.
Along side the permanent exhibition, the Estorick Collection will have temporary exhibitions always related to Italian art. At the end of 2024, the exhibition was on Antonio Calderara.
Tips
You must book the temporary exhibitions in all the museums well in advance. Some exhibitions are so sought after that you might not get any tickets at the time of your visit. So the trick is to buy a membership, this will allow you to get into all the temporary exhibitions free of charge. You might pay more than a simple ticket but you get to go back to London so the prices of the memberships become well worth it.
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