If you're in the know, you can have the best possible experience in some of the world's most impressive museums — just follow our insider tips to London's most awesome artwork.
London's huge museums are one of its most famous attractions, but being faced with thousands of exhibits is intimidating. Never mind the blockbuster temporary exhibitions that dominate local listings magazines — even just trying to walk round the permanent collections can give you sore feet before you've even started.
So here are a few pointers to the UK capital's museum highlights. Best of all, in this oh-so-expensive city, remember it's only special shows you pay for. The works permanently on display are free.
With some five million annual visitors, this is the world's most successful contemporary art gallery. However, since its 2000 opening, Tate Modern has been more about the building's architecture and location than the art that's on its walls 24/7. So first inspect the huge, intact Turbine Hall of this former power station, then grab a brew from the fourth floor coffee bar and drink it on the balcony overlooking St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.
When you're ready for the permanent collection, it's on the third and fifth floors. Besides Anish Kapoor's Ishi's Light on the third, and Roy Lichenstein's Whaam on the fifth, there's a smattering of Picassos, Miros, Pollocks and Francis Bacons. The famous Rothko collection seems to be in paid-for special exhibitions currently.
Right up there with Tate Modern for popularity, and outdoing even the Victoria and Albert Museum (see below) for sprawling confusion, this museum of world cultures requires the utmost in museum discipline. Decide what interests you most, whether Egyptian, Greek, Ancient Roman, African or something else, and stick to it. It's the relatively rare sort of place where taking a tour or an audio guide actually helps. Trying to see too much will threaten your sanity.
The inner Great Court was renovated by Sir Norman Foster in 2000, so that a glass ceiling radiates out from the circular British Library reading room, where Karl Marx wrote his famous work Das Kapital. Inside the former reading room, there's often a spectacular special exhibition. Elsewhere, top permanent exhibits to tick off include the Rosetta Stone, several mummies, the controversially kept Parthenon Marbles and the Aztec mosaic mask of Tezcatlipoca.
While overshadowed by its younger, cooler sister — Tate Modern — this gallery has the better pictures. In fact, it's a great place to quickly learn a bit about British art, with works by artists from Constable and the pre-Raphaelites to pop artists and Tracey Emin. There's a whole wing devoted to landscape maestro JMW Turner, although one of his best paintings,
St Benedetto, is in the Romantic collection. Whistler's
Nocturne, a dark murky painting of a night scene, is a curiosity and Sarah Lucas'
Self-portrait with Fried Eggs is iconic. Works by 20th-century painters Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and David Hockney, plus sculptures by Henry Moore are also worth seeing.
London's equivalent of the Louvre is full of gilt-framed grand masters in ornate barrel-vaulted halls — and very popular with school groups. Knowing how vast its collection is, it promotes its own list of 30 highlights, of which the most famous is Van Gogh's
Sunflowers. Most people would also recognise Van Eyck's
Arnolfini Portrait and Seurat's
Bathers at Asnieres. And for a little fun among the educational Caravaggios, Constables, Turners, Da Vincis and Vermeers, look for Van Hoogstraten's
A Peepshow, which is like a 17th-century toy creating a 3-D illusion.
Perfect for our impatient, celebrity-obsessed age, this collection of famous faces really only has two floors worth seeing. An escalator takes you to the upper level Tudor Gallery with exquisite historic paintings of Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and Shakespeare. From there, you wind your way downstairs. However, unless you're desperate to see a painting of Captain Cook, nothing much happens until the ground floor, with its ever-changing portraits of modern personalities, from Germaine Greer to David Beckham. Check the postcards in the shop for any portraits you may have missed, or come for something special during summer's BP Portrait Award.
Despite recent spring cleaning and reorganisation, 'the nation's attic' is still a bit of a labyrinth. Luckily, much of the good stuff in this museum of arts, crafts and design is on the ground level. The entrancing, changing dress displays in Room 40 make it clear why fashionistas, above all, love the V&A. Other easily reached highlights include the ornate Ardabil Carpet, John Madjeski Garden and William Morris Dining Room. 'Tippoo's Tiger', a 1790 wooden sculpture (and wind-up organ) of a tiger attacking a European, shows what many Indians really thought of English colonialists!
Five minutes from each other — and opposite the V&A — these are both boffins' delights, and good places to pacify the kids. The main Natural History Museum building is a wonderful Victorian-era construction and some of the exhibits inside, like the Blue Whale, still evoke the mustiness of that era. Still, the dinosaurs are unmissable, whether as skeletons or animatronic versions. The Science Museum has everything from an
Apollo 10 command module to lots of flight simulators and other interactive exhibits. The Energy Ring is beautiful, fun and thought provoking.
Surprisingly impressive, this airy, spacious, modern museum in Greenwich often has landlubbers wanting to run away to sea. Obviously, it would be nicest to do that in Prince Frederick's 18th-century golden barge on the ground floor, or in the luxury cruise liner interiors recreated in the nearby Passengers exhibit. The replica of the tiny 'James Caird' lifeboat in which explorer Ernest Shackleton and five of his men sailed 1500km in open Antarctic seas in search of help doesn't seem so comfortable, although it's incredibly moving.
What do you think of British museums? Got any hot tips to add to the list?
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