Paintings You Can See in London
Art travel guide · London
Paintings You Can See in London
London is the great free museum city: the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, Tate Britain on the river at Millbank, the Wallace Collection in a Marylebone townhouse and IWM London across the Thames all let you walk in without a ticket. Here are ten paintings in London that we have written about, each with a full essay, so you know what you are looking at before you stand in front of it.
The National Gallery
More paintings at this museum →The National Gallery
Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN · entrance via the Sainsbury Wing
Know before you go
- Open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; until 9 p.m. on Fridays. Closed 24–26 December and 1 January.
- General admission is free; some exhibitions are ticketed. You can book a free ticket for fast-track entry, or just walk in.
- The main entrance is now through the Sainsbury Wing, on the west side of Trafalgar Square.
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1The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck
A merchant and his wife stand in a Bruges room full of costly things, and in the convex mirror on the back wall two more figures appear in the doorway. Van Eyck signed the wall above it: “Jan van Eyck was here, 1434”.
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2The Fighting Temeraire
J.M.W. Turner
A pale veteran of Trafalgar is towed up the Thames by a black steam tug to be broken up, under a blazing sunset. Turner called it his “darling” and never sold it.
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3The Rokeby Venus
Diego Velázquez
The only surviving female nude by Velázquez lies with her back to us while Cupid holds up a mirror, and the face in it is deliberately blurred. Saved for the nation in 1906, slashed by a suffragette in 1914.
Tate Britain
More paintings at this museum →Tate Britain
Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Know before you go
- Open Monday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Entry to the collection is free and there is no need to book; exhibitions are ticketed.
- Home of the world’s largest collection of works by J.M.W. Turner, in the Clore Gallery.
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4Ophelia
John Everett Millais
Shakespeare’s Ophelia floats in a stream, singing, among flowers painted leaf by leaf on the banks of a real river in Surrey. The Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece of Tate Britain.
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5The Lady of Shalott
John William Waterhouse
Tennyson’s cursed lady drifts towards Camelot in a boat, the candles guttering beside her. Waterhouse turns the last verses of the poem into a farewell.
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6The Magic Circle
John William Waterhouse
A sorceress draws a ring of fire around herself with a wand while ravens wait outside it, in a desolate landscape. Bought for the nation the year it was painted.
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7Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
John Singer Sargent
Two girls light paper lanterns among lilies at dusk. Sargent painted it a few minutes each evening, in the garden of a house in the Cotswolds, only when the light was exactly right.
The Wallace Collection
More paintings at this museum →The Wallace Collection
Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN
Know before you go
- Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed 24, 25 and 26 December.
- Entry to the permanent collection is free.
- A private collection shown in the family’s townhouse, a few minutes’ walk from Oxford Street.
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8The Swing
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
A young woman flies high on a swing in an overgrown garden, kicking off her pink slipper towards the admirer hidden in the bushes. The great Rococo image of flirtation.
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9Christ’s Charge to Peter
Peter Paul Rubens
Christ hands Peter the keys of the kingdom, surrounded by apostles in a close, crowded group. A Rubens painting now hanging in a London townhouse.
IWM London (Imperial War Museum)
More paintings at this museum →IWM London (Imperial War Museum)
Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
Know before you go
- Open every day 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except 24 to 26 December.
- Entry is free and you don’t need to book.
- Gassed belongs to IWM’s art collection; large works are not always on display, so check the museum’s website before you go.
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10Gassed
John Singer Sargent
A line of soldiers blinded by mustard gas shuffles towards a dressing station, each with a hand on the shoulder of the man in front. Sargent’s huge war painting, commissioned for a Hall of Remembrance.
Where to stay for London’s museums
The National Gallery and Tate Britain are linked by Whitehall and Millbank, about thirty minutes on foot along the river, past the Houses of Parliament that Monet painted from St Thomas’ Hospital. A hotel around Westminster or Trafalgar Square keeps both within walking distance; the Wallace Collection is a short Tube ride north, and IWM London a walk across Westminster or Lambeth Bridge.
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Opening times and admission from the official websites of the National Gallery, Tate, the Wallace Collection and IWM. Times can change; check before you travel.
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