Susan C.

John Singer Sargent's "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose"--a painting of two children lighting paper lanterns at dusk in a garden filled with blooming flowers--has been a personal favorite of mine since college, so when I realized this painting was at the Tate Britain I knew I had to make a stop here on this trip. Arriving on a Friday afternoon around 4pm, it was rather rushed to walk thru the whole gallery by 5:45pm when they started to clear out the exhibition halls. Good news was that it was fairly clear and uncrowded with most visitors trickling out slowly between 4-6pm. Wonderful that this museum along with many others in London are free with donations encouraged, a terrific social effort to make art easily accessible to the public. A casual viewer could easily spend 1-1.5 hours here, if you want to take a bit more time to read the descriptions, admire the art, then 2-3 hours is doable. Among the other artworks here, "Ophelia" by Sir John Everett Millais is very well known as are the works of JMW Turner, James Tisot's "Holyday", and many others. I personally appreciated William Stott's "Le Pasteur" depicting two girls waiting for a ferry at dusk, something about the quality of light and anticipation created a calm tension in the painting that felt palpable. A number of Henry Moore's modern sculptures with their monolithic human torsos or undulating Matisse-like curves really drew me in too. All in all a worthwhile afternoon spent enjoying art!

Andrew M. M.

This is a really amazing free museum with a nice combination of modern art and older standards. Most of the older art was of Victorian era (if I am getting that correct) with a lot of paintings of royalty and rich merchants (who could afford to have their portraits done), angels, seascapes. But so much more that you could spend hours wandering around. The focus is on British artists with a large collection JMW Turner's work. I found a lot of his work to be expensive, dramatic, and kind of repetitive. He painted a lot of seascapes, which are very impressive. There is an entire room filled with his unfinished works. There was an entire interesting collection of modern art, including sculptures, which was also fascinating. One of them included a collection of plastic lawn chairs with leather motorcycle gang jackets over them. We had to be reminded not to sit in the chairs. There was one sculpture, I really didn't understand, though, it was an older broken toilet with a red light on the inside and 2 walnuts with a cigar in the middle, attach to the toilet lid by metal wires. There were really well done curated notes for each painting, which made them much more interesting when you read some of the history behind the painting, but there is so much that you have to pick and choose. John Singer Sargent's "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose"--a painting of two children lighting paper lanterns at dusk in a garden filled with blooming flowers was a beautiful painting as well as Edward Burra's 1930s "The Snack Bar", which I found so interesting to read about and look at.

David S.

At first I thought that this museum was simply going to be just modern art, much like the Tate Modern, but it turns out that this museum is focused specifically on British Art, though I sort of thought that that was also the National Gallery. Well, there is a whole gamut of art works here, stretching across the centuries, right down to the modern day, with some really interesting things, such as a coil of rope on the floor. Yeah, it's pretty good, and it's free as well, which is always a good thing to be honest.

Chloe W.

We were looking for something to do on a cold Sunday in London and decided to stop by the Tate Britain. Wow! I was shocked at how long it took me to visit this awesome museum. A great variety of art, organized by date, as well as a great limited time exhibit. We were especially excited to see John Everett Millais' 'Ophelia' and John Singer Sargent's 'Lady Macbeth'. If you are in the Westminster/Victoria area, make sure to visit the Tate Britain.

JoAnn A.

I've been to a few art museums in London, but had never visited this one and I'm so glad I did. It houses artworks made British artists, so in addition to modern art, here you will find some classics by Waterhouse, Gainsborough, Millhouse etc. Many museums around the world are grappling with their ties to colonialism, and the UK's museums are no exception. What I was most impressed with however, is that the Tate Britain's team seems to have reflected on the museum's historical roots to slavery, and what that means for the art it shows and how that art came into the museum. How do you reckon with the fact that the museum's founder had ties to slavery and the art he donated was linked to that? I was really impressed with the signage around much of the older art, that would call out whether the subjects depicted were slaveowners or had ties to colonialist institutions. In a few instances, there were portraits depicting BIPOC subjects and the museum added additional information about their lives. I also noticed the gift shop carried books about art diversity and intersectionality. I've never seen another art museum do this level of detail in regards to reckoning with a colonialist past, so I thought this was much-needed scholarship for our modern era. In addition, the museum also displays modern art, and there was a large exhibit for Hew Locke's The Procession, which featured figures who move through celebratory/mourning poses. The installation brings attention to the museum's founding. It was a deeply moving experience to see an exhibit by a Guyanese-British artist featuring African communities taking up space in a historically colonialist institution. Pictures don't really do it justice. When you walk around it, it feels like experiencing all the joys and sorrows of humanity. I was really impressed with Tate Britain and would recommend it!

Bruce K.

I have been to quite a few of the museums in London and while the Tate Britain has some quality art, I can't really say that this is my favorite of them. It's not the Tate's fault - this is just art that I don't really appreciate and just don't "get." I'm sorry, Tate. Lots of really classy stuff here and the audio guide is a big help. A few Sickerts, but the collection of Turners can't be matched. If you like art, especially British art, then you'll love the Tate Britain. Note that pictures are not permitted, so if someone was going to try and take pictures, they might do well to get the audio guide device and it doesn't look nearly as obvious. Or so I heard.

Wendy L.

One of many great museums in London. Tate Britain is the original museum, Tate Modern was added on later. We saw the famous Turner exhibition. It's definitely worth the visit if you are familiar with his work. William Blake exhibition was also on display at the same time with admission fee. Like all museums in London, it's FREE!! So don't miss this opportunity to see as many as you can.

Ani M.

This museum is a must-see for fans of JMW Turner and John Singer Sargent. Seeing their works was absolutely worth the trip. I thought the collections could have been organized better. The layout does not do justice to some of the works. But overall it is definitely worth visiting for an art lover. Admission is free.

Lynn Z.

Nice museum to spend an hour or two. Famous for Turner collection. For first timers, taking a free tour is recommended. Took the free tour for the weekend. It was interesting to hear the stories and history about the museum. Worth a visit.

Bianca F.

This is a really cool museum that is definitely worth a visit if you are nearby the area. I really enjoyed the art here (hence my photos). It's free. We were only there for a hour, but could have easily spent about 4 hours inside.

Dale H.

My husband and I spent a very pleasant morning immersing ourselves in quintessential British art at The Tate Britain. There are major pieces here by some major artists. We found work by Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Gilbert and George, Tracy Enim, and more. There is an entire wing devoted to JMW Turner that showcases some spectacular work, there is an entire room devoted to William Blake, and there are some wonderful pieces by Constable and Gainsborough here and there. The collection covers all eras. The High/Low of our visit was seeing the Anish Kapoor sculpture "Adam". The High came from trying to figure out if the jet black rectangle on the face of the sculpture was a hole or if it was a rectangular piece of material. It was really difficult to tell, even up close. The Low came when some idiot walked up to it while we were there, put both hands on either side of the space in question, then stuck his head into what we discovered to be a hole. He yelled something into it then walked away. He must have seen our confusion and decided to come explain the mystery to us. We saw this guy in a couple of other galleries running his hands all over the art; then I noticed that there weren't many guards around. Perhaps the Tate should invest in better security. Other than that, it was a very pleasant museum experience.

Donald C.

We went here for a late event to see "My Bed" art work. Honestly, there is so much to see here that you'll have to go more than once. I especially enjoyed the Hirst, Hockney, and Will Blake pieces. There was also an excellent exhibition on Jo Spence's work. If in London, I would say it's one of the best if not THE best of the museums in London. Oh yeah, and the "My Bed" piece was well worth it. You wouldn't think so, but it really makes you think about what art is. It's also one of those pieces that still retains it's aura, unlike so many others.

Mike C.

This museum has over 500 years of British paintings, artifacts and sculptures. It's FREE to enter but they do have special temporary exhibits for a small price. The audio guide is free if you have the London Pass. The permanent collection is divided into three main groups. The 20th century, historic works and contemporary pieces. And within each group, they also have "Focus" areas, which are areas you should get the most out of when you visit the museum. The Focus areas change regularly so every time you visit, there will be a different Focus area on the next visit. My favorites includes works from William Turner. A lot of his work has ships as part of the theme. Although the building itself looks big, the collection here occupies only one floor with the temporary exhibits occupying parts of another floor, so your visit here won't be as long as compared to visiting the National Gallery or the British Musuem.