where guernica came to london
Whitechapel Gallery is free to enter. Opening times, which days it closes and what's on at the East End's landmark free art gallery.
Free to visit · Whitechapel · Aldgate East · E1 7QX
Opening: Closed Mon, Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun 11am–6pm, Thu late till 9pm (Gallery Lates)
Whitechapel Gallery is free to enter, every day except Monday when it's closed. It's open 11am to 6pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and stays open late until 9pm on Thursdays for Gallery Lates. The Whitechapel has been giving the East End free world-class art since 1901, long before the area was fashionable. It made its name showing artists Britain had never seen, and in 1939 it hosted the only UK showing of Picasso's Guernica, brought over to raise money for Spanish refugees.
Today the general admission is still free and the programme is fearless, big international names and emerging artists side by side, spread across a lovely set of gallery spaces behind an Arts and Crafts facade. Some of the bigger ticketed shows cost, but there is always plenty to see for nothing.
It sits right on the seam between the glass towers of the City and the markets of the East End, so it makes a perfect free anchor for a day exploring Brick Lane, Spitalfields and the street art around Shoreditch.
Getting there: Right outside Aldgate East station on Whitechapel High Street, on the edge of the City and the East End.
Best time to go: A weekday afternoon. Pair it with a wander round Brick Lane and Spitalfields, which are a few minutes north.
Insider tip: Use it as the start of a free East End art crawl. From the gallery you are minutes from the Brick Lane and Shoreditch street art, so do the indoor world-class stuff here for free, then walk it off looking at the walls outside.
Official site: https://www.whitechapelgallery.org
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide