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Whitechapel Gallery

The East End's gallery since 1901, free, where Guernica hung in 1939 and Rothko, Pollock and Hockney were first shown to London.

Public galleryFree

Photo by Ham, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Museums.

Canon Samuel Barnett and his wife Henrietta, who had been hanging borrowed pictures in a Whitechapel school for the poor since 1881, built this gallery for them; Charles Harrison Townsend's front of 1901, with its great arch and the blank space above it where a mosaic never came, is one of the best Arts and Crafts buildings in London, and the gallery was among the first anywhere paid for by the public to show changing exhibitions rather than a collection. It has stayed free and stayed ahead. Picasso's Guernica hung here in January 1939, the price of entry a pair of boots for the Spanish republicans; This Is Tomorrow in 1956 gave pop art its start; Pollock had his first British show here in 1958 and Rothko in 1961, and the New Generation show of 1964 introduced Hockney, Bridget Riley and Patrick Caulfield. In 2009 it took over the Victorian library next door and doubled in size. Entry is free.

Where
77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX
Nearest station
Aldgate East · 1 min walk

Coming up

Hours

MondayClosed
Tuesday11:00 – 18:00
Wednesday11:00 – 18:00
Thursday11:00 – 21:00
Friday11:00 – 18:00
Saturday11:00 – 18:00
Sunday11:00 – 18:00

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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