Whitechapel Gallery

There's one paid for exhibition where you can pay what you like. Upstairs all the exhibitions are free. There seems to be a focus on local - east end - artists. What I like is the public/community feel about the place. It's separate but also part of the public space. The coffee shop seems to stretch into the gallery.

Once a former library in Whitechapel, the building was built in 1901 and it has nine exhibition rooms, for a contemporary art exhibitions, with a cafe, bookshop and great exhibitions. Except from the exhibitions do step back and admire the building with the golden leaves, and the weather vane up in the cupola showing Erasmus riding a horse backwards reading a book created by Canadian artist Rodney Graham. The gallery is free to visit but on some exhibitions you need to be paid for.

I’m actually the kind of person who, in my 20 years, has only been to one museum—and that was 7 years ago. But I was really curious to visit an art gallery since I had never been to one before. I imagined a gallery as a place with rooms filled with paintings by various artists or sculptures. However, in this gallery, I didn’t see anything like that—or maybe I just couldn’t find it, since I only visited the free area. I also noticed a space where people could just sit quietly, read books, or engage in other calm activities. From another room, I heard voices and, through the glass, I saw a television playing what seemed to be an art film that the visitors were watching. I didn’t go in there but quietly went downstairs and left. It’s also worth mentioning the friendly staff who greeted me at the entrance and the cloakroom.