Tate Britain is the oldest gallery in the Tate network of galleries (Tate Modern being one of the others), dating from 1897. It houses British art from 1500 to the present day including the largest collection of works by J M W Turner, for whom the Turner Prize was named.
I much prefer portraits and landscapes to modern art and this was my first chance to visit Tate Britain, which I really enjoyed. It has free entry with a charge for special exhibitions and as with many of London’s art galleries it would take many days to see everything. As I like Turner’s work I headed over to that section first and later bought several postcards of the art I admired including Norham Castle, Sunrise and The Shipwreck.
As you’ll know by now I don’t tend to take photos of art in galleries but I did take a lot of photos of the building itself. Built on the site of the former Millbank Prison – it served as a holding facility for convicts being transported to Australia – construction of the gallery was by Higgs and Hill and named after its founder Sir Henry Tate, the sugar merchant. It has survived flooding by the nearby River Thames and was badly damaged during World War II, though the artwork had been moved elsewhere by then.
The interiors were lovely as well, allowing in lots of light and as I went near the end of the day the crowds were negligible in many of the rooms making it quite a restful place to visit.
Some highlights I did photograph included this bust of Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur
and Jacob and the Angel by Jacob Epstein
Well worth a visit, you can find some more of my photos here.
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