Are you looking for some inspiration and motivation for your next project? Trying to find new ways of stimulating your creative senses? If you live near London, live in the UK, or or are planning a visit to this great city, it’s well worth paying a visit to these free galleries, as they have some fantastic paintings on show, and like I said before, which are totally free.

There are quite a few free galleries in London, but which ones should you go to to make your trip worthwhile? I’m going to running through a few of these galleries, and how they can benefit you within your next project. So lets start.

The National Gallery

One of the most popular, and for a good reason, is ‘The National Gallery’ in Trafalgar Square. A fantastic building in terms of architecture, it holds over 2,300 paintings for you to feast your eyes on. These pantings range from mid 13th century, and has work from J. M. W. Turner to Van Gogh, this collection has every painting you could think of, (well most paintings). You can spend as many hours as you like in there, and really look at the paintings on show.

Some paintings which you must see are ‘Bathers at Asnières’ – Georges Seurat, ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ – Thomas Gainsborough, ‘Self Portrait at the Age of 34’ – Rembrandt, ‘Sunflowers’ – Vincent van Gogh and ‘The Hay Wain’ – John Constable, to name a few. You can relax, study, or go in depth about particular paintings with tour guides and headphones. I love this gallery as it’s easy to walk to from Waterloo, and is close to tube stations.

Any Negatives?

As this is a really good gallery which holds a large number of paintings, it can tend to be quite busy, depending on when you visit the gallery. As the gallery is huge however, even when it’s busy you can still walk around easily. There could be an argument with too many paintings on show there, but maybe I’m clutching at straws.

The National Portrait Gallery

Right next door to ‘The National Gallery’, is the ‘National Portrait Gallery’, which houses over 1,400 portraits, which is a lot of portraits! As this gallery is right next to the National Gallery, it’s in perfect walking distance if you just fancy going to a couple of art galleries whilst in London.

The collection ranges from paintings from Tudor to contemporary paintings, including that of photographs too. The gallery is free, but it also holds exhibition spaces which cost, but it depends what your looking for. Paintings include works from Lucien Frued, Jonathan Yeo and Paul Emsley, the artist who painted the Duchess of Cambridge in early 2013. There’s not really any other gallery dedicated to portraits like this in London, so it’s the gallery to go to if your looking to study portraits, and look at how the masters have tackled them! It also gives you a chance to look at portraits within different mediums, as it also includes photography too.

Any Negatives?

If your looking for more than just portraits to look at, this isn’t the gallery for you. Like the National Gallery, it can get busy at peak times, but this also depends when you visit the gallery. However the exhibition space is smaller than the National Gallery, so this can become more of a problem.

Tate Modern

If your looking for more of an up to date and contemporary gallery, which you can fend into your next art project, then the Tate Modern is definitely for you. With a great setting overlooking The Thames, on Bankside, it’s a gallery which holds paintings, sculpture and photographs.

Artists which are on show are Francis Bacon, Salvador Dalí and Dame Barbara Hepworth, which all have vast collections of their work inside the gallery. Even though it’s not as big as the National, it’s a collection that can really inspire you, as the artwork on show is contemporary and modern. It’s also a collection which holds more diversity than the other two galleries, showing incredible sculptures by Henry Moore, which are just mind blowing when you look at the form and effects you get with the medium.

Any Negatives?

The gallery feels a little bit ‘away’ from the rest of London, and is a bit more difficult to get to than the galleries in Trafalgar Square. Saying this, it doesn’t get at all as crowded as those other two galleries, which is great if you just want to look at the paintings in peace and quiet, a good relief from the City.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post about which galleries to go to in London, and how they can benefit you with your next illustration, artwork, portrait or even sculpture. Be sure to comment us below, as we would love to hear from you on this topic. Thanks, and have a great day!