Whitechapel Gallery

Welcome to the most famous London gallery the Whitechapel Art Gallery.The Whitechapel Art Gallery was founded in 1901 to bring great art to the people of east London. Internationally acclaimed for its exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and its pioneering education and public events programmes, the Gallery has premiered international artists such as Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Nan Goldin, and provided a showcase for Britain’s most significant artists from Gilbert & George to Lucian Freud, Peter Doig to Mark Wallinger. Its first exhibition, which included the Pre-Raphaelites, Constable, Hogarth and Rubens, attracted 206,000 local people. It is one of the most famous London tourist destination visited by lots of people.

The Gallery plays a unique role in the capital’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of East London as the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter.

The Grade II* Whitechapel Gallery was designed by architect Charles Harrison Townsend. This purpose built gallery is an outstanding example of the Arts and Crafts movement and its aspirations of being accessible, spiritually uplifting and transformative. This development also builds on the 1980s expansion by Colquhoun and Miller under the directorship of Sir Nicolas Serota and inaugurated by the Queen Mother.

The Whitechapel Art Gallery organizes exhibitions, events and education programmes. The events includes talks and discussions ,courses and workshops, films , special events, past events and children’s events. The education programmes includes primary school projects ,secondary school projects, school visits etc. Childrens event include drawing workshops, family day, children’s course etc.

The Whitechapel Gallery's archives hold an extensive range of material produced by the Gallery from the past 100 years. Included in the collection are publications, rare documents, artists' letters, photographs, graphic works, press records, exhibition plans and installations, recordings on tape and videos of artists, critics and curators.

The development of the Gallery has enabled the construction of the purpose-designed Foyle Reading Room and the dedicated Pat Matthews Gallery offering increased access to the Whitechapel Gallery Archive.


Visitor Information:


Admission Prices

Please note that entry to our exhibitions currently on display is free of charge .

Opening Hours

Planned Gallery Closures

Wednesday 9 June 2010: Gallery 2 will close at 4:30pm.

Wednesday 30 June 2010: Gallery 2 and the Zilkha Auditorium will close at 4.30 pm.
Friday 9 July 2010: Gallery 2 will close at 4.30pm.