Dulwich Picture Gallery
What Visitors Say
We had an 11.30 booked slot for the Anna Ancher exhibition. We parked right outside the gallery for free. The exhibition was wonderful and we are so happy we went. The permanent collection is great too with quite a few famous paintings. The cafe is very nice and very busy. 15 minutes wait for a table at lunch time. We had the smoked mackerel open sandwich and the Aubergine rolls which were both so tasty. I recommend this gallery.
What a wonderful new ArtPlay centre for children 😍 It was our first visit & I'd booked the after school SEN session for my autistic son which he really enjoyed. It wasn't very busy so he comfortably explored the space, particularly liked the slide and swing area. The subtle tones & soft textures create a cosy & relaxing atmosphere. Frequency sounds were played in the background too. I personally love the design concept & features of this unique, creative space. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. It was nice socialising with other parents too. I've yet to visit the gallery and it's gardens- no doubt they're just as great. We'll definitely be coming here again soon. Thank you for your service 😊
Really enjoyed the exhibition of work by Anna Ancher: Painting Light. A Danish artist I’d heard never heard of. Plus couple of images of details from main collection.
Lovely building and grounds, and a decent permanent collection. The price of the tickets is very expensive, but might be worth it to some people. With so much amazing free art in London, I'm not sure I'd recommend it beyond walking the grounds and enjoying Soane's building. We did get charged different amounts for our tickets by different attendants, and didn't find staff friendly. We were also surprised to find the mausoleum being used as a storage area with a projector set on top of poor Peter :(
It has long been on my list of art museums in London. The collection, to be honest, is not really exciting. In my opinion, its value lies rather in the fact that it reflects the taste of the early 19th century than in the works in it. They do hold a few good works by Rembrandt, Poussin, Murillo, etc, but the scale of the gallery is not big, even less impressive than a grand country houseand, and it will not hold you for long; the visit is usually under 2 hours. The staff member was neither cold nor warm; they were busy talking to each other. I felt a larger context of the collection was needed, rather than just individual labels next to the works, as the works individually are really not that interesting, and if people want to see good, inspiring artworks they sure will go to the National Gallery and other museums in central London. An introduction to Soane or a general overview of the taste of the 19th century Britain would be helpful. But they have audioguide recordings on Bloomsbury connect, which was helpful. Art Fund members go for free. Otherwise the ticket price can be considered as pricey regarding the size of the gallery. Also, they were having some construction going on so it was not possible to go to the back of the gallery to see the mausoleum.
Highlights
Soane’s Top-Lit Enfilade
Prototype for museum design everywhereNatural light from above means paintings sit in calm shadow—your eyes do less work, your brain does more.
Main suite of galleries
The Mausoleum
Collectors at the heart of the planFounders Bourgeois and Desenfans rest inside the gallery—Soane literally builds memory into circulation.
Central chapel-like rotunda
Frames as Architecture
Gilded ‘rooms’ within roomsLook past the paint: carved frames stage the pictures and converse with Soane’s mouldings.
Throughout
Opening Hours
Fun Facts
Rembrandt’s small portrait ‘Jacob de Gheyn III’ has been stolen four times from Dulwich—earning the nickname ‘the Takeaway Rembrandt’.
Dulwich’s plan of linked, top-lit rooms became the template for 19th- and 20th-century galleries worldwide.
The mausoleum in the plan isn’t an add-on: Soane designed the building around it, fusing memorial and museum.
