Best Galleries in London

Best Galleries in London

Spoonfed selects our favourite London Galleries.

Art is cool. Everyone knows that. And like Charles Saatchi and his YBAs, London's got more than its fair share. In 1994 Roy Strong wrote in The Sunday Times that, for a successful exhibition, 'You've got to have two out of death, sex and jewels'. For whatever reason, these are the galleries that just keep on getting it right.

Tate Modern
The art gallery for people who don't like art galleries, and the world's biggest too. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron converted the Bankside Power Station, gutting the Turbine Hall and creating a whopping 82 galleries. Though criticised for weak areas in its collection, this is a long-awaited addition to the London gallery scene. And for anyone struggling to make sense of the thematic hang, the place is open until 10 pm on Fridays, so have a few beers and let your imagination run riot.

National Gallery
Oil paintings smell lovely. Compared to the Louvre, Prado and others of that ilk, this gallery's collection of Western European art from 1250 onwards is a relatively small one but, happily, almost all of it is permanently on view. Botticelli, Titian, Turner, Van Eyck, Canaletto, Velásquez, Da Vinci… all for free: so go give them a good sniff.

ICA
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is a firm believer in art's role within public life and therefore much of its work occurs beyond the traditional gallery space. Yes, it's trendy, and no, the haircut who sells you a ticket won't grin and tell you to 'have a nice day', but this is still an excellent venue for art, gigs, movies and more.

Serpentine Gallery
A former tea pavilion in Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine Gallery showcases modern and contemporary art, sculpture and architecture, by superstars as well as those relatively unknown. The summer pavilion is a personal highlight - every year an acclaimed architect is commissioned to design a temporary structure which becomes home to a season of great events. Once you've been drunk on Sri Lankan whisky and cup cakes in a Rem Koolhaas bubble, listening to Damien Hirst in conversation at 4 am, you'll never look back.

White Cube
Jay Jopling's original Duke Street White Cube (one of the smallest exhibition spaces in Europe) closed in 2002, and reopened at Hoxton Square; now the quintessential minimalist gallery. Since 2006 the gallery also has a shy little sister tucked away at Mason's Yard. Savile Row-slick, and incredibly well-connected, Jopling represents an astounding list of contemporary artists and this dynamic space is always worth a visit.

Tate Britain
Though, in my view, it never looked better than when Jim Lambie's psychedelic floor installation stretched from wall to wall in 2003, Tate Britain is still a handsome building. Home to the Turner Prize and 2007's excellently curated Turner Prize Retrospective, the Millbank gallery shows only the highest quality exhibitions and also has a fantastic permanent collection of British art from 1500 to present day. All thanks to Henry Tate, Liverpool born sugar-magnate. Sweet.

Royal Academy of Arts
A true institution, the Royal Academy is home to the diploma work of every Royal Academician. Due to an age-old wariness of art-world renegades (we're talking women, Scots, watercolourists and other such social menaces) the RA's collection is not quite as comprehensive as one might hope. Its real strength lies in architectural drawings and sculpture - in fact, this is home to the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in England.

Hayward Gallery
Amid the famously ugly South Bank Centre, contemporary art at the Hayward is celebrated through major exhibitions as well as commissions and a busy events program. Shows here sometimes completely miss the mark, but when they're good, they're very very good. I think my entire artistic outlook probably hangs on Maurizio Cattelan's stuffed suicidal squirrel, spotted in a quiet corner of the Abracadabra: International Contemporary Art exhibition in 1999.

Whitechapel Art Gallery
Some of the most important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in Britain have taken place in this Grade II listed building on Whitechapel High Street. Decidedly avant-garde, the array of conceptual art, installations, video, film, performance and new media pieces can be a little hard to swallow, but if you enjoy a challenge, this where it's at. Expertly expanded in 2009, the Whitechapel is now better than ever.

The Saatchi Gallery
When Charles Saatchi moved his über-collection to the musty Edwardian architecture of County Hall, nobody guessed just how good it would be. Opened in October 2008, the new premises in Chelsea provide over 70,000 sq ft of exhibition space, making it one of the largest contemporary art galleries in the world. Massive.

Updated January 2013.

SUSIE