Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exhibition Rd., SW7.
&
0870/870-4868.
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk. Free admission. Daily 10am-
6pm. Closed Dec 24-26. Tube: S. Kensington.
Tate Britain
MUSEUM Fronting the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, the Tate
looks like a smaller and more graceful relation of the British Museum. Within is the
country's finest collection of domestic art, dating from the 16th century to the pres-
ent, with most of the country's leading artists represented, including such notables as
Gainsborough, Reynolds, Stubbs, Blake, and Constable; William Hogarth, and the
incomparable William Blake, as well as such modern greats as Stanley Spencer, Fran-
cis Bacon, and David Hockney. The collection of works by J. M. W. Turner is the
Tate's largest by a single artist, spread over seven rooms. Turner himself willed most
of his paintings and watercolors to the nation.
And, just to show the young ones that it can still swing with the best of them, Tate
Britain is also the host each autumn of the annual
Turner Prize,
the media-baiting,
controversy-seeking competition for the best contemporary British art.
Free tours of parts of the collection are offered Monday to Friday (at 11am, noon,
and 3pm) and on Saturdays and Sundays at noon and 3pm, and the first Friday of
each month sees the “Late at Tate” event, which involves extended opening hours and
free events, such as talks, film screenings, or live music.
If you want to make an art-filled day of it, the
Tate to Tate
boat
service
departs
from just out front to
Tate Modern
all day (p. 109).
Millbank, SW1.
&
020/7887-8888.
www.tate.org.uk/britain. Free admission; special exhibitions incur a
charge of £5-£15. Daily 10am-6pm (last admission 5:15pm). Tube: Pimlico.
Victoria & Albert Museum
MUSEUM Of the three great South Kens-
ington collections, the “V&A” is perhaps the least ostentatious, which might seem
strange for a museum dedicated to all that is most eye-catching in the visual arts. That's
not to say it doesn't provide a feast for the eyes—this is perhaps the world's greatest
collection of applied arts—more that it relies less on gizmos, gadgets, and touchscreens
to get its point across. The wonders on display here need no sexing up.
The museum comprises seven floors split into 150 galleries, in which are dis-
played, at a rough estimate, around four million items of decorative art from across
the world and throughout the ages—sculptures, jewelry, textiles, clothes, paintings,
ceramics, furniture, architecture, and more. Many of the collections are among the
finest found anywhere. The V&A has the largest collection of Renaissance sculptures
outside Italy, the greatest collection of Indian art outside India (in the Nehru Gal-
lery), and the country's most comprehensive collection of antique dresses (in the
Fashion Gallery). The Photography Gallery can draw on some 500,000 individual
images, the recently added William & Judith Bolling Gallery holds one of the world's
largest (and most glittering) collections of European jewelry, while the British Galler-
ies can offer perhaps the greatest diversity of British design available anywhere, with
all the great names of the past 400 years represented, including Chippendale,
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and William Morris.
To help you plot your path, your first stop should be the front desk where you can
pick up leaflets, floor plans, and themed family trails. If you'd rather somebody else
made the decisions for you, free guided tours leave from the grand entrance daily,
hourly between 10:30am and 3:30pm. Art-based drop-in events are laid on for fami-
lies on weekends.
Cromwell Rd., SW7.
&
020/7942-2000.
www.vam.ac.uk. Free admission. Temporary exhibitions often
£12. Sun-Thurs 10am-5:45pm; Fri 10am-10pm. Tube: S. Kensington.
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