Tate Modern

Tate Modern

Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group.

It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year.

Connect with art, artists and other visitors and make your ideas visible around Tate Modern.

Created in the year 2000 from a disused power station in the heart of London, Tate Modern displays the national collection of international modern art. This is defined as art since 1900. International painting pre-1900 is found at the National Gallery, and sculpture at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Tate Modern includes modern British art where it contributes to the story of modern art, so major modern British artists may be found at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain.

Brief histroy overview

The galleries are housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which was originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect of Battersea Power Station, and built in two stages between 1947 and 1963.

The power station closed in 1981. In 1992 The Tate Gallery at the British National Art Museum proposed a competition to build a new building for modern art.

In 1995 it was announced that Herzog & de Meuron had won the competition with their simple design. The architects decided to reinvent the current building instead of demolishing it.

The Tate modern is an example of adaptive reuse, the process of finding new life in old buildings. The building itself still resembles the 20th century factory in style from the outside and that is reflected on the inside by the taupe walls, steel girders and concrete floors.

The façade of the building is made out of 4.2 million bricks that are separated by groups of thin vertical windows that help create a dramatic light inside.

Free daily guided tours

You can go on a journey around Tate Modern with a profesional guide. You can join the tour every day

Each tour focuses on highlights from different areas of our Collection Displays, chosen by our expert guides. 
11.00: focuses on Poetry and Dream, meet on the Level 2 concourse
12.00: focuses on Transformed Visions, meet on the Level 3 concourse
14.00: focuses on Structure and Clarity, meet on the Level 4 concourse
15.00: focuses on Energy and Process, meet on the Level 4 concourse

The tour lasts approximately 45 minutes.
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