The 50 best art galleries in London

Between the regular commissions for the Curve gallery and the always interesting shows in its main exhibition space, the Barbican is a serious destination for art lovers. Whether it’s an endless torrent of rain that you won’t get wet in or a passionately in-depth look at Jean-Michel Basquiat, these concrete halls always come up with the goods.

This (relatively) bijou building is the oldest public art gallery in the UK and its light-filled spaces house a brilliant collection including work by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin and Gainsborough. It has recently branched out with an annual pavilion commission, just to give the Serpentine a run for its money, and its temporary shows are well worth a trip across town.

After closing for a two-year refurbishment, the South Bank’s greatest heap of concrete brutalism thankfully reopened its doors in 2018. The refurb has brought light spilling into its spaces, and the programming – Diane Arbus, Lee Bul and Andreas Gursky, among others – is as brilliant as ever. Plus, Prince Charles hates the building. If that doesn’t make you love it, nothing will.

If you’re going to call yourself the Institute of Contemporary Arts, you’d better be delivering some seriously edgy, forward-thinking exhibitions, and boy does the ICA deliver. This is the place where pop art was invented – if you catch the right show here, you just might spot the next big art movement.

Da Vinci! Velázquez! Van Gogh! Rubens! Hoooo, mama, the National Gallery is full of huge names. You can’t walk through its calming rooms without falling completely in love with art. And (except for its fantastic blockbuster exhibitions of work by the likes of Caravaggio and Michelangelo) it won’t cost you a penny. 

If you’ve ever wanted to see a blurry painting of Ed Sheeran (and maybe you have, who are we to judge?) the NPG is the place to be. And when you’re done admiring all that ginger paint, enjoy the rest of the collection, which is a who’s who of great Britons and brilliant artists.

For 250 years, Britain’s first art school has been a hotbed of artistic talent. You name ’em, they were an Academician. But the RA’s also got serious pedigree when it comes to putting on big shows, like 2016’s totally incredible ‘Abstract Expressionism’ show. Now, it’s got a big old extension, including its first free permanent collection display – and it’s as important as it’s ever been.

Nestled deep in Hyde Park, the Serpentine puts on some of the most adventurous temporary art exhibitions in town. Marina Abramović, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons have all graced its tranquil west London buildings. Combine that with its annual pavilion commission and you have pretty much the best thing in all of Kensington.

Tate Modern’s older, more refined sibling may be a little stuffier, but it’s still full of amazing work. Focusing on the history of British art, it’s a treasure trove of works by Bridget Riley, John Martin and JMW Turner. Sure, it can feel like we’re a country full of xenophobes who can’t let go of the empire sometimes, but it’s nice to know we’ve made some good art over the years.

As well as having an international collection of modern and contemporary artworks that few can beat, Tate Modern is a historic piece of architecture worth visiting in its own right. It’s hard to imagine how empty London’s modern art scene must have been before this place opened in 2000, but we’re sure glad it did.

Forget all that fancy modern art with its highfalutin’ conceptualism and performance shenanigans. Sometimes you just need a nice old painting of a lady on a swing. The Wallace Collection has a great one – by Fragonard – alongside tons of other lovely old paintings in its swanky townhouse just off Oxford Street.

For more than a hundred years, the Whitechapel has championed major names in art – helping introduce Londoners to stars like Jackson Pollock and Frida Kahlo. Years later, it’s still putting on world-beating exhibitions.

Autograph is more than just an art gallery, it's a research centre and advocacy charity that - since 1988 - has used photography to explore issues of race and identity. It's heavy hitting, essential stuff.

Way up on Finchley Road, Camden Art Centre has been quietly ploughing its own artistic furrow since 1965 (it was Hampstead Central Library before that). It used to provide arts and crafts classes to the local community; now it’s north London’s go-to for contemporary art by the likes of Haroon Mirza, Eva Hesse and Doris Salcedo.

The Chiz has been one of London’s most radical commissioners of new art for the past few years. It’s always a challenge, and always surprising. You never know what you’re going to get, but you know it’ll get the old noggin ticking.

Assemble, this gallery in a grade II-listed former Victorian bathhouse seems hellbent on ignoring the usual art conventions and putting on whatever shows it bloody well wants. Which is a really, really good thing.

Ever wanted to know what’s in Damien Hirst’s house? Probably a lot of the stuff you’ll find at this gorgeous Vauxhall gallery, which was built specifically to put on shows of Hirst’s art collection. Jeff Koons and abstract maestro John Hoyland were among the first artists to get shown in this amazing vaulted space. Thanks, Damo.

Six storeys of nothing but photography: this Soho gallery is heaven for art fans who’ve had enough of paintings and sculptures, and want a bit of reality in their culture. Its programming is forward-thinking, its exhibitions are great and there’s nowhere else like it in town.

Nestled next to Camberwell School of Art and with Goldsmiths to the east, you’d expect the South London Gallery to know its art onions – and you’d be right. With its additional new fire-station building, and a history of shows by artists including Katharina Grosse and Lawrence Weiner, it’s fast becoming one of the city’s most important art spaces.

In the cultural wilderness of Clapham, Studio Voltaire – a non-profit gallery and artist studios – is a beacon of artistic hope. The gallery puts on shows worth travelling for, all of which seem to have an edge of cultural criticism that is not just welcome but very needed. It has just gone through a major refurb too, and looks stunning. 

This gorgeous building was designed to house the collection of young art lover Alex Petalas, who fills it with exhibitions based on the artists he loves and collects. You have to book to visit, but you can expect big names like Sarah Lucas alongside younger contemporary artists like Prem Sahib.

This Fitzrovia gallery – which has now moved to Cork St – has some serious art clout, having shown art by the likes of Juergen Teller and representing the estates of Robert Mapplethorpe and Ana Mendieta.

Out on Cambridge Heath Road, this gallery concentrates on digital and internet-focused work by young artists – one of the only places in London that does it (alongside Arebyte), and does it well.

This radical gallery has recently upped sticks from Peckham to Mayfair – all because it didn’t want to contribute any further to the gentrification of south London. Too late for that, but it still puts on properly interesting shows.

In a lonely building in a south London park, Cabinet is a bit of a London art hermit, doing its own thing with shows by artists like Ed Atkins. 

In what can charitably be described as the back end of nowhere, this Mile End gallery has become one of the best places for contemporary art in London. Previous artists shown here include Ed Fornieles and Oscar Murillo.

What was once a great contemporary art gallery in Deptford soon became a great contemporary art gallery in Fitzrovia, and will soon be taking over a church in North London to show off its roster of brilliant up-and-coming artists. 

A towering Mayfair townhouse of a gallery, David Zwirner always delivers, whether it’s with the cartoon pop of Rose Wylie or the mid-century modernist classicism of Josef Albers.

This long-established contemporary art space long-ago left Frith Street itself, and are now firmly ensconced in a lovely Golden Square gallery where they show work by the likes of Tacita Dean and Cornelia Parker.

Larry Gagosian is essentially the biggest gallerist in the world. He has one enormous space in Mayfair in London and one little piddler – for shows by artists like, oh, you know, Picasso.

This Clerkenwell gallery has managed to produce a whole bunch of Turner Prize winners and nominees, including Lubaina Himid and Charlotte Prodger – a pretty good guarantee that it knows what it’s doing.

A Pierre Huyghe monkey film and gorgeous Lee Lozano paintings are just two of the impeccably curated shows this mega-swanky Savile Row space has put on recently. It’s become one of the most important galleries in town.

Housed in swish new digs in Bethnal Green, this great gallery focuses on art that questions and undermines gender and identity norms.

Still going strong after more than 50 years, Lisson is one of this list’s oldest UK galleries, having introduced the world to Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Douglas Gordon. 

Robin Klassnik, who runs this gallery, does things his own way, and always has. This is a London institution that never stops moving.

An East End stalwart, Paley has been a mainstay of the area for decades now, with adventurous shows of work by the likes of Wolfgang Tillmans and Gillian Wearing. 

Walking into this townhouse gallery is a bit like walking into a flat owned by the richest person on earth. It might be a little intimidating, but Werner puts on top-quality shows by the likes of Peter Doig and the legendary Sigmar Polke.

Having recently taken over a big, pristine, warehouse-like space on Vyner Street, Stuart Shave’s Modern Art gallery now has the surroundings to match its artists, including the brilliantly confrontational Linder.

This major international gallery used to call the back of the RA home, but has now moved over to Hanover Square - in the former Blain Southern building - to continue its big, ambitious program of exhibitions by artists like, well, Rothko. That's pretty big isn't it. 

This Mayfair gallery, which moved down from Fitzrovia, is the best place in town for radical feminist art, heavy-theory conceptualism and classic performance.

Despite being one of London's newest galleries, Bethnal Green's Rose Easton has already set its stall out as one of the best places to spot the young stars of the future, and its recent Jenkin Van Zyl show was incredible.

Flooded with light, Sadie Coles’s big Soho warehouse is the perfect place to catch her fantastic roster of artists – Martine Syms, Raymond Pettibon and Monster Chetwynd among them.

The London outpost of this major German gallery hosts exhibitions spanning classic minimalism to contemporary art by the likes of Cindy Sherman and Donald Judd.

This Mayfair gallery knows how to delight the old eyeballs, showing work like the gorgeous blue paintings of Lisa Brice and the shocking steel sculptures of Melvin Edwards.

Having moved on from its roots in Peckham to a fancy new space in Vauxhall, The Sunday Painter brilliantly puts on shows of fascinating contemporary art.

This huge Mayfair townhouse looks like a spa, but the only things getting a treatment here are your eyes, with exhibitions by big names such as Robert Rauschenberg and Joseph Beuys.

Maybe the only gallery in London situated above a pub, The Approach is the perfect marriage of art and pints, and its stellar contemporary art programming makes it an East London must-visit.

These two spaces in the poshest bit of town host shows by major names like Oscar winner Steve McQueen. In 2017 Thomas Dane showed Anya Gallaccio’s enormous 3D clay printer that splodged out a mountain over the course of several weeks.

The one that started it all. White Cube brought us Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and loads of other YBAs. After moving into its huge Bermondsey space, it became one of the first museum-quality commercial galleries in the world. Seriously impressive.

You’ll know this cavernous Old Street gallery as the place everyone queues round the block to get into whenever it puts on a Yayoi Kusama show. But there’s more to this beautiful space than dotty pumpkins and infinity mirrors. Come for artists like Alice Neel, Do Ho Suh and Idris Khan too.