Where to see art for free in London this summer?

I ended up at Doreen Fletcher’s free exhibition of paintings at the Townhouse Gallery in Spitalfields the other day, having messaged her to ask if she knew who a man was in a photo of the exhibition on Instagram. It was someone I had been friends with on my PGCE teaching year in 1994, but had lost touch with twenty years ago. She replied with a smiley face saying ‘yes, it’s my husband, we have been married for 17 years!’ So I saw the show, which was very enjoyable, and had a lovely reunion too.

With so much free art to see in London this summer, where will you be heading to get your art fixes? With a bit of pre-planning, you can really make the most of your time, so why not have a look at the following links to see what exhibitions catch your eye. Although many have paid, temporary exhibitions, all have free displays, and many have free talks and events too.
 
The National Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery 
Royal Academy
Tate Britain 
Tate Modern 
Serpentine Gallery (including the Pavilion)  
Victoria and Albert Museum 
British Museum 
 
Or how about visiting the two homes for most of the major art societies in London; The Mall Galleries and the Bankside Gallery?

Or how about visiting an auction house? You don’t need to be a buyer! Search for their ‘viewing times’ here:
 
Christies
Sotherby’s
Bonhams 

And finally, don’t forget my favourite free art activity of all; picking an area of London to go to and explore all the free commercial galleries there. They can feel a little daunting to go in at times, but it’s absolutely fine. You can design your own route by searching on Google Maps for ‘Commercial Galleries in Mayfair’ (or St James, Shoreditch, Hackney, Fitzrovia etc), click on the galleries to check if they have an exhibition on the day you plan to visit, and if you like the look of it, add it to your map. It’s a whole fun day out!