Dulwich Picture Gallery
By train, the Dulwich Picture Gallery lies just 12 minutes away from Victoria and London Bridge. The Gallery, hailed as London’s very first public art gallery, houses some of the country’s finest collections of Old Masters, rich in Western European Baroque paintings and British portraits from Tudor times to the 19th century. Founded in 1811 after Sir Francis Bourgeois RA donated his collection of the Old Master’s “for the inspection of the public”, Dulwich is also home to Gainsborough, Rembrandt and Canaletto, Rembrandt, and more.
Today, the Gallery serves as a cultural hub for the UK’s leading exhibitions. It also features a detailed, ongoing calendar of public events and community learning opportunities and lectures for all ages.
Dulwich even boasts its own “Top Five Things to See and Do” outside its grounds, including a visit to the Gallery’s founders buried on site in Sir John Soane’s famous mausoleum; a walk through the Walking the Dog, the Gallery’s first-ever piece of contemporary art flanked by lush, thriving gardens; view Giovanni Antonio Canal’s (known as Canaletto) 1754 A View of Old Walton Bridge painting; a photo opportunity with the Rembrandt’s Girl at the Window, one of the Gallery’s most sought-after paintings; and stroll to the iconic UK telephone box, where you’ll notice the design of the box was heavily influenced by Soane’s dome mausoleum.
