Tate Britain

First ever visit to Tate Britain (and quick tour after work)

The Tate houses the UK's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is a network of four art museums: Tate Britain, London (until 2000 known as the Tate Gallery, founded 1897), Tate Liverpool (founded 1988), Tate St Ives, Cornwall (founded 1993) and Tate Modern, London (founded 2000). The gallery was founded in 1897, as the National Gallery of British Art. When its role was changed to include the national collection of modern art as well as the national collection of British art, in 1932, it was renamed the Tate Gallery after sugar magnate Henry Tate of Tate & Lyle, who had laid the foundations for the collection. The Tate Gallery was housed in the current building occupied by Tate Britain, on Millbank.

Much of Tate Britain is taken up with the   BP Walk through British Art which offers a circuit of Tate Britain’s collection from its beginnings to its end. This ‘walk through time’ has been arranged to ensure that the collection’s full historical range, from 1545 to the present, can be seen.

My highlights (a very untutored eye) were:

 John Constable
Flatford Mill ('Scene on a Navigable River') 1816-17

Clive Branson

Bombed Women and Searchlights 1940

L.S. Lowry

The Pond 1950

Antony Gormley

Bed 1980–1

The BP Walk through British Art also includes The Clore Gallery which is dedicated to the Turner Collection and houses the artist’s bequest to the nation. One of my favorites was this view.  

J M W Turner

Chichester Canal c.1828