Tate Britain

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in England, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. Founded by Sir Henry Tate, it houses a substantial collection of the art of the United Kingdom since Tudor times, and in particular has large holdings of the works of J. M. W. Turner, who bequeathed all his own collection to the nation. It is one of the largest museums in the country. In 2021, it ranked 50th on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.

History

The gallery is on Millbank, on the site of the former Millbank Prison. Construction, undertaken by Higgs and Hill, commenced in 1893, and the gallery opened on 21 July 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art. However, from the start it was commonly known as the Tate Gallery, after its founder Sir Henry Tate, and in 1932 it officially adopted that name. Before 2000, the gallery housed and displayed both British and modern collections, but the launch of Tate Modern saw Tate's modern collections move there, while the old Millbank gallery became dedicated to the display of historical and contemporary British art. As a consequence, it was renamed Tate Britain in March 2000.

The front part of the building was designed by Sidney R. J. Smith with a classical portico and dome behind, and the central sculpture gallery was designed by John Russell Pope. Tate Britain includes the Clore Gallery of 1987, designed by James Stirling, which houses work by J. M. W. Turner. The Clore Gallery was built through a joint effort between Jewish philanthropist Charles Clore and his daughter, Vivien Duffield, who together donated £6 million, and the British government, which contributed an additional £1.8 million. The Clore Gallery has been regarded as an important example of Postmodern architecture, especially in the use of contextual irony: each section of the external facade quotes liberally from the building next to it in regard to materials and detailing.

Crises during its existence include flood damage to artworks from the River Thames spilling its banks, and bomb damage during World War II. However, most of the collection was in safe storage elsewhere during the war, as in anticipation of the threat to London more than 700 artworks were secretly transported to Muncaster Castle in Cumbria on 24 August 1939. In 1970, the building was given Grade II* listed status.

In 2012, Tate Britain announced that it had raised the £45 million required to complete a major renovation, largely thanks to a £4.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £1 million given by Tate members. The museum stayed open throughout the three phases of renovation. Completed in 2013, the newly designed sections were conceived by the architects Caruso St John and included a total of nine new galleries, with reinforced flooring to accommodate heavy sculptures. A second part was unveiled later that year, the centrepiece being the reopening of the building's Thames-facing entrance as well as a new spiral staircase beneath its rotunda. The circular balcony of the rotunda's domed atrium, closed to visitors since the 1920s, was reopened. The gallery also now has a dedicated schools' entrance and reception beneath its entrance steps on Millbank and a new archive gallery for the presentation of temporary displays.

Facilities

Tate Britain has a number of accessibility features for disabled visitors. The gallery provides a café and a members room. As well as administration offices, the building complex houses the Prints and Drawings Rooms (in the Clore galleries), as well as the Library and Archive in the Hyman Kreitman Reading Rooms.

Tate Britain and Tate Modern are now connected by a river bus along the River Thames, which runs from Millbank Millennium Pier immediately outside Tate Britain. The boat is decorated with spots, based on paintings of similar appearance by Damien Hirst. The lighting artwork incorporated in the pier's structure is by Angela Bulloch.

Rex Whistler restaurant

The gallery previously featured the Rex Whistler restaurant, named after Rex Whistler who created a mural, The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats, in the room that was completed in 1927 and that included enslaved Black children and caricatures of Chinese people. This led to complaints, petitioning for removal and an investigation by the Tates's ethics team. The restaurant was closed and the area re-purposed and now features the mural alongside a film installation called Viva Voce by Keith Piper.

Displays

The main display spaces show the permanent collection of historic British art, as well as contemporary work. It has rooms dedicated to works by one artist, such as: Tracey Emin, John Latham, Douglas Gordon, Sam Taylor-Wood, Tacita Dean, and Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, though these works, like the rest of the collection, are subject to rotation.

The gallery also organises career retrospectives of British artists and temporary major exhibitions of British art. Every three years the gallery stages a Triennial exhibition in which a guest curator provides an overview of contemporary British art. The 2003 Tate Triennial was called Days Like These. Art Now is a small changing show of contemporary artists' work in a dedicated room.

Tate Britain is known for hosting the annual and usually controversial Turner Prize exhibition every other year, that features artists selected by a jury chaired by the director of Tate Britain. Four nominees are announced in spring, the show of their work opens in autumn and the prize itself is given in December. There have been demonstrations against the prize, notably since 2000 an annual picket by Stuckist artists. The exhibition and award ceremony have taken place at locations other than in Tate Britain: for example, in Liverpool (2007), Derry (2013), Glasgow (2015) and Hull (2017).

Late at Tate Britain runs on four evenings each year and is curated by young people. The evenings can include discussions, workshops, films, music, performances and art installations.

Regular free tours operate on the hour, and at 1:15 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday short 15-minute talks are given on paintings, artists and artistic styles.

Permanent collection

Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art from 1500 to the present day. As such, it is the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world. More recent artists include David Hockney, Peter Blake and Francis Bacon. Works in the permanent Tate collection, which may be on display at Tate Britain include:

Unknown 17th-century artist: The Cholmondeley Ladies

Francis Bacon: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

William Blake: Newton

David Bomberg: The Mud Bath

Hamad Butt: Familiars

John Constable: Flatford Mill

Richard Dadd, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke

Herbert James Draper: The Lament for Icarus

William Dyce: Pegwell Bay, Kent – a Recollection of 5 October 1858

Augustus Egg: Past and Present

Thomas Gainsborough: Giovanna Baccelli

Mark Gertler: Merry-Go-Round

Joseph Highmore: Pamela is Married

William Hogarth: The Painter and his Pug

William Holman Hunt: The Awakening Conscience

Thomas Lawrence: Homer Reciting his Poems

John Martin: The Great Day of His Wrath

Henry Moore: Recumbent Figure 1938

Sir John Everett Millais: Ophelia

Paul Nash: ‘’Totes Meer’’

Sir Joshua Reynolds: Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Ecce Ancilla Domini!, Beata Beatrix

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Sketch for the Banqueting House Ceiling

John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth

Stanley Spencer: The Resurrection, Cookham

Clarkson Stanfield : The Canal of the Guidecca, and the Church of the Gesuati, Venice

George Stubbs: Horse Attacked by a Lion

Henry Scott Tuke: August Blue

J. M. W. Turner: The Golden Bough, Norham Castle, Sunrise

Henry Wallis: The Death of Chatterton

John William Waterhouse: The Lady of Shalott, The Magic Circle

James Abbott McNeill Whistler: Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge

Rose Wylie: Pin Up and Porn Queen Jigsaw

Gillian Wise: Looped Network Suspended in Pictorial Space

Alison Wilding: Assembly

Rachel Whiteread: Untitled (Floor/Ceiling)

Joanna Mary Wells: Gretchen

Paule Vézelay: Five Forms

Annie Louisa Swynnerton: Oreads

Helen Saunders: Monochrome Abstract Composition

Eva Rothschild: The Fallowfield

Bridget Riley: Achæan

Paula Rego: War

Fiona Rae: Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century

Grace Pailthorpe: 4 December 1938

Mabel Nicholson: Family Group

Jessica Dismorr: Abstract Composition

Lucy McKenzie: Side Entrance

Mary Martin (artist): Inversions

Hilary Lloyd: One Minute of Water

Kim Lim: Shogun

Liliane Lijn: Headborn

Claudette Johnson: Standing Figure with African Masks

Gwen John: Nude Girl

Frances Hodgkins: Flatford Mill

Susan Hiller: Belshazzar's Feast, the Writing on Your Wall

Amelia Robertson Hill: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Barbara Hepworth: Spring, 1957 (Project for Sculpture)

Dora Gordine: Javanese Head

Works from the [[Panchayat Arts and Education Resource Unit

]] or 'Panchayat Collection'

Statue of John Everett Millais

When the Pre-Raphaelite painter and President of the Royal Academy, John Everett Millais, died in 1896, the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) chaired a memorial committee, which commissioned a statue of the artist. The sculpture, by Thomas Brock, was installed at the front of the gallery in the garden on the east side in 1905. On 23 November that year, The Pall Mall Gazette called it "a breezy statue, representing the man in the characteristic attitude in which we all knew him".

In 1953, Tate Director, Sir Norman Reid, attempted to have it replaced by Rodin's John the Baptist, and in 1962 again proposed its removal, calling its presence "positively harmful". His efforts were frustrated by the statue's owner, the Ministry of Works. Ownership was transferred from the Ministry to English Heritage in 1996, and by them in turn to the Tate. In 2000 the statue was removed to the rear of the building.

Controversy

BP Sponsorship

Starting in 1990, oil company BP began a sponsorship of Tate Britain, which was to become 'the longest and most consistent sponsorship of any permanent art collection in the UK' according to the Tate itself. Although BP renewed its support in 2011, offering a fresh commitment to last a further decade, the following year BP announced the termination of its support for Tate Britain, blaming the 'extremely challenging business environment'. Although the company denied that the decision was influenced by climate change protests, BP's support for Tate Britain had drawn the attention of activists to the gallery. In 2015, a collective called Liberate Tate had occupied part of Tate Britain and attributed BP's move to climate activism, which has since become a focus of academic study.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “Tate Britain” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.