Tate Modern
London · United Kingdom · Founded 2000
Britain's national gallery of international modern and contemporary art, housed in the former Bankside Power Station on the South Bank of the Thames.
5.9 million
Annual Visitors
70,000+ works
Collection
2–3 hours
Recommended Visit
Giles Gilbert Scott (Bankside Power Station, 1963) · Herzog & de Meuron (conversion, 2000; extension, 2016)
Architect
About Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art created from 1900 to the present day. It is part of the Tate group, together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St Ives.
The museum is housed in the former Bankside Power Station, originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The conversion was carried out by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who retained much of the original character of the building.
Tate Modern is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. As with other national British museums, entry to the collection display is free of charge, except for the temporary exhibitions.
The vast Turbine Hall, formerly housing the electricity generators of the old power station, hosts a hugely popular series of specially commissioned works by contemporary artists.
Masterworks & Must-See Highlights
The works that define Tate Modern — and why they matter.
The Snail
Henri Matisse · 1953
Level 4, In the Studio
One of Matisse's last great works, made when he was 84 and too ill to paint — he cut and pinned shapes of colour-painted paper into a swirling spiral composition. The cut-outs mark a triumphant final chapter in his career.
CAPITAL
Joseph Beuys · ongoing installation
Large Turbine Hall rotations
Beuys' enigmatic installation using blackboards, batteries, copper elements, and felt explores his idea of "social sculpture" — the belief that art should reshape society.
Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?
Guerrilla Girls · 1989
Collection galleries
A billboard-scale activist poster asking why 85% of nudes in the Met are female while fewer than 5% of artists are. One of the most influential works of institutional critique in contemporary art.
Collections & Highlights
Frequently Asked Questions
A small ask before you go
You've just explored one of humanity's greatest collections of beauty. Art has the power to move us, inspire us, and change how we see the world. But millions of people will never see beauty like this — not because the art isn't there, but because they can't see at all.
Preventable blindness, caused by conditions like cataracts and trachoma, affects people of all ages across the world's poorest communities. A small gift — for the cost of a museum ticket — can provide a simple surgery to restore someone's sight and transform their life.