Whitechapel Gallery was founded in 1901 by the philanthropists and social reformers Canon Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, with the aim of presenting “the finest art of the world for the people of the East End”. It stands on Whitechapel High Street in Tower Hamlets.
A capital project completed in 2009 added the former Whitechapel Public Library next door. The building now holds nine exhibition spaces, an auditorium, study and studio spaces, a bookshop and a café.
Exhibition history
In 1908 the gallery staged the first UK exhibition of art from Turkey, Persia, Egypt, Morocco and India. In 1939 Picasso’s Guernica made its first and only visit to Britain, with a pair of boots for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War as the price of admission.
Barbara Hepworth showed here in 1954, followed by This is Tomorrow in 1956, Jackson Pollock in 1958, David Hockney in 1970, Eva Hesse in 1979, Frida Kahlo in 1982 and Cindy Sherman in 1991.
Programme
The London Open, which began in 1932 as the East End Academy, gave early exposure to Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Rachel Whiteread and Antony Gormley. The Max Mara Art Prize for Women, set up in 2005, gives UK-based women artists a solo exhibition and a residency.
In summer 2026 The Ropery, a participatory exhibition co-created with the designer Sanne Visser, drew on East London’s rope-making history. Cecilia Vicuña: Living Threads is on view until 14 February 2027.
Location: Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom
Address: 77–82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX, United Kingdom
Website: whitechapelgallery.org
Instagram: @whitechapelgallery
Facebook: WhitechapelGallery