London is the best city for art! (Time Out Survey)

London has been declared to be the best city in the world for art galleries - according to Time Out’s latest guide to the planet’s top places for culture.

This conclusion arises out of a survey of more than 24,000 people around the world about culture in their cities.

An impressive 81.1 percent of surveyed Londoners said that the city does art galleries better than it does anything else. London was a clear gold medal winner in the category, scoring much higher than Paris (which came second with 67.9 percent) and New York (third with 67.7 percent).

Of course, one of the main reasons for this is that so many are free to access - which is a very significant bonus for both residents and visitors alike.

In addition, 88.4 percent of London’s residents backed London’s museum venues. That put us third, only behind Paris and Madrid. 

Below is a summary of Time's Out View - based on its survey - of:

• the top 50 art galleries in London
• the top 25 museums in London.
  

I really out to get back to doing my twice a year overview of what's on where at the major art galleries....

The Top 50 Art Galleries in London

This is the Time Out Guide to The 50 best art galleries in London

Frankly, I don't think they're in any order of "best". 

• Rather this is a collection of what they think are the best. 
• I guarantee that the majority of Time Out Readers will not have heard of the majority of them - which makes it a very odd list in that sense.
• It also excludes rather a lot of very active art galleries which are well worth a visit - mainly because they forgot to say.....

There is a VERY STRONG Contemporary Art bias

Hence they EXCLUDE:

• any of the long running and very respectable art galleries (eg Cork Street and associated area) which a lot of artists would give their eye teeth to get into
• anything to do with art societies - which is sad, because it basically indicates that anything associated with an art society is of no interest. Which is very far from the truth.

As such I'll tell you which I think are the best!

Plus all the ones I have never visited

They are listed in a very odd order - so I have reordered into my particular order of preference

The Sainsbury Wing is now effectively the main entrance to the National Gallery
- and all temporary exhibitions

1. The National Gallery - Where you go to see all the very great art in London from across the Centuries. It's a place I pop into on a very regular basis. It's also where I go to get a long walk in winter when it never stops raining! I have a particular order of galleries to visit and paintings to visit. It also has some pretty good temporary exhibitions - always worth keeping an eye on. However queues can be horrendous. I actually don't like what they've done to the Sainsbury Wing....
2. Tate Britain - I'm a Member of the Tate and this is my very much preferred Tate - because of both the collection and the exhibitions. The gallery tells the story of 500 years of British art and its many stories and voices - but now includes more contemporary artists as well. Just realised I MUST go and see the James McNeill Whistler exhibition on until September! I love the fact I just turn up with my card and can walk into any exhibition.
3. The National Portrait Gallery - one of my favourite museums with a restaurant with a fabulous view on the top floor. I'm a member. I have favourite rooms I visit. It's packed to the rafters these days with visitors. 
4. Tate Modern - I've been to excellent exhibitions here and really really boring ones too. I sometimes think I prefer the architecture, the cafe and the shops to the exhibitions. Members room has a spiffing terrace overlooking the Thames! I'll be visiting:
• Tracy Emin - A Second Life
• Frida: The Making of an Icon
5. Royal Academy of Arts - I used to be a member until the temporary exhibitions became a bit too eclectic for me and the annual membership fee got very silly - and the bit that did it for me, they took away the Chesterfields in the Friends Room. I sometimes go to the Summer Exhibition. I can recommend eating across the road at Fortnum & Masons which is altogether more relaxed and a nicer environment.
6. Wallace Collection - Very good collection with some excellent paintings in an old town house. Has some very good small temporary exhibitions, I loved the dog portraits and Grayson Perry
7. Dulwich Picture Gallery - a unique gallery which has an interesting collection and some very good temporary exhibitions - very focused and not too big. Plus a great cafe. I used to drive. I've never done it by public transport.
8. Serpentine Gallery - There are actually two galleries - Serpentine North and Serpentine South - which can be very confusing to the uninitiated. It ends to be a one exhibition per gallery. 
9. Gagosian - galleries all over the world and the roster of artists is gobsmacking; two locations in London at Grosvenor Hill and Davies Street. It also another gallery in an old farm in Somerset
10. White Cube, Bermondsey - founded and run by Jay Joplin, galleries all over the world in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Seoul. It represents over 60 international artists and artist estates. The gallery in Bermondsey is Europe’s largest commercial gallery space
11. David Zwirner Gallery - Truly major artists exhibit here. I know I've visited this one but cannot remember why - probably the Gerhard Richter in 2024.
    
12. Hauser & Wirth - on Saville Row. Has a Cindy Sherman show later this year. Princess Eugenie is one of the Directors!
13. ICA - the very near neighbour of the Mall Galleries but not one which tempts me much. Typically exhibitions by people you have never heard of.
14. Whitechapel Gallery - only a short hop on the bus for me and yet I rarely visit. It's very focused on diversity and culture.
15. Hayward Gallery - Part of the Southbank Centre. One bit that I've never been tempted to visit
16. The Barbican - their art gallery has never ever done anything for me
17. Chisenhale Gallery - a very long time ago I used to authorise its grant from the council! On one visit I was once told it's where Saatchi always used to go to find new young artists who haven't yet been recognised

Galleries highlighted which I've never visited

• Newport Street Gallery - Opened in 2015. I keep meaning to go because this gallery houses Damien Hirst's own art collection. the gallery spans 37,000 square feet and includes six exhibition spaces – one with a ceiling height of 11 metres – split over two levels.

presents exhibitions of work from Damien Hirst’s art collection. Exhibitions vary between solo and group shows and admission to the gallery is free.

• The Photographers' Gallery - six floors of photography.
• South London Gallery - Looks interesting.

established in the 19th century by philanthropist William Rossiter and today it is one of the capital’s leading contemporary visual art institutions

Commercial Contemporary Art Galleries (that I've never heard of)

To be honest, most of these galleries are 

• VERY contemporary art biased
• dealing with art being sold to the wealthy. 

As an artist, you're either "in the club" or you're not. It all depends on how they find their new artists. 

• Alison Jacques - a Cork Street art gallery in London with an international programme of estates and contemporary artists. Currently exhibiting Eileen Agar.
• Annka Kultys Gallery - a leading contemporary gallery for artists who engage with technology, both in traditional and digital media. WARNING: do NOT look at the website if you react to flashing lights
• Arcadia Missa - Their website includes an online viewing room. The gallery does not accept unsolicited artist submissions or proposals.
• Cabinet - described as an art hermit in a lonely building in a south London park
• Carlos/Ishikawa - a gallery in Stepney described as

In what can charitably be described as the back end of nowhere, this Mile End gallery has become one of the best places for contemporary art in London

• Castor - an itinerant "white box" gallery which has moved from Deptford to Fitzrovia to a Grade 2 listed church in Angel
• Frith Street Gallery - no longer in Frith Street and now in Golden Square. The sort of gallery which goes to International Art fairs.
• Hollybush Gardens - a gallery in Clerkenwell with a good track record in producing Turner Prizewinners eg Lubaina Himid
• Lisson Gallery - It's been around for over 50 years and is one of the UK's oldest contemporary art galleries. Some of its artists currently participating in the Venice Biennale!
• Matt's Gallery - an independent contemporary art gallery in London. One of the few "unknown to me" which actually looks interesting!

We believe that for artists to grow and develop and to produce their best work, they must be given time, space and support away from external commercial and political pressures. We work with artists at key moments in their development, at all stages of their careers.

• Maureen Paley - the Grand Dame of East End Art Gallery owners - she started in 1984. She has Gallery Artists who are Turner prizewinners and nominees. She shows people like Wolfgang Tillmans and Gillian Wearing.
• Michael Werner Gallery - Commercial gallery in Brook Street opened in 2012, showing modern masters and contemporary US and European artists. The website appears to have disappeared.
• Modern Art - this is the black box gallery in Bennet Street with a white box inside. A contemporary art gallery representing over thirty artists
• Pace Gallery - galleries in New York and London. Recently moved into the old Blain | Southern building in Hanover Square (who I had not realised has closed down)
• Richard Saltoun - (Dover Street) specialises in post-war and contemporary art with an interest in conceptual, feminist and performance artists
• Rose Easton - another East End art gallery
• Sadie Coles HQ - three locations in London including Saville Row.
• Sprüth Magers - a German art gallery (based in Berlin) with an outlet in Grafton Street
• Stephen Friedman Gallery - no website / no content
• The Sunday Painter - a contemporary art gallery in south London. Harry Beer and Will Jarvis established The Sunday Painter in 2009 as an artist-run project space to show the work of their friends and peers
• Thaddaeus Ropac - Founded in 1983 / galleries across the world, in London, Paris, Salzburg and Seoul. Most of the activity appears to be other than London.
• The Approach Gallery - a contemporary "white box" art gallery situated above a public house of the same name in Bethnal Green, London. Part of the East End Gallery crowd.
• Thomas Dane - two galleries in Duke Street, St James and Naples

More that I have never heard of before

• Autograph - never heard of it before. The website does not tempt.
• Camden Art Centre - I knew there was a reason I'd never been
• Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art - a brand new gallery in a grade II-listed former Victorian bathhouse. Exhibitions come across as a bit weird. I assume it appeals to the young.
• The Perimeter - a non-profit exhibition space for contemporary art in London, founded by Alexander V. Petalas.
• Studio Voltaire - never heard of it before. One of the UK’s leading not-for-profit arts and education organisations. Championing emerging and under-represented artists

Galleries which have closed

Somebody forgot to do their due dilgence and check they were all still operating!

• Project Native Informant - closed at the end of last year, See The Art Newspaper article

The Top 25 Museums in London

This is the Time Out Guide to The Top 25 Museums in London

In order they are:

1. Natural History Museum - always packed with parents and kids at weekends
2. British Museum - there are quiet spots if you know where to go
3. The V&A - one of my favourites. I have galleries I have to visit every year
4. National Gallery
5. National Portrait Gallery
6. Design Museum
7. Horniman Museum
8. NEW: V&A East - just up the road from where I live!
9. Museum of Youth Culture
10. Science Museum
11. Imperial War Museum
12. National Maritime Museum
13. Sir John's Soane Museum
14. The Postal Museum and Mail Rail
15. London Transport Museum
16. Museum of the Home - very small but one of my favourites!
17. London Museum Docklands
18. Dennis Severs' House
19. Museum of Brands - eccentric and fascinating. Revisit your youth!
20. Churchill War Rooms
21. Old Operating Theatre Museum - I used to work at a Health Authority HQ right next door! 
22. Young V&A (used to be called the Museum of Childhood) - Back in the mid 80s, I used to be able visit during lunch when I was a Group Accountant working for Tower Hamlets Council. It's recently had an extensive refurbishment.
23. Charles Dickens Museum
24. Grant Museum of Zoology - never heard of it before
25. The Cinema Museum

Don't forget the new London Museum opens at Smithfield in November.