20 unmissable paintings in London

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Time Out's guide to must-see works of art in the city

Not only is London home to a vibrant and ever-changing contemporary art scene but it’s also the place to see some of the world’s greatest historical artworks. For a crash fine art primer Helen Sumpter rounds up the top 20 unmissable paintings in the permanent collections of London’s major museums and galleries.

3. 'Sunflowers' by Vincent Van Gogh

Sunflowers, 1888, by Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers, 1888, by Vincent Van Gogh - © The National Gallery, London

One of several sunflower paintings Van Gogh made in the late summer of 1888, with the intention of using them to decorate the studio in Arles in the south of France he was about to share with Gauguin, this image is so iconic it’s even featured in the storyline of an episode of Dr Who.


See 'Sunflowers' by Vincent Van Gogh at the National Gallery.



Find your favourite unmissable painting

'A Bar at the Folies-Bergère' 'The Raphael Cartoons' 'Sunflowers' 'Girl at a Window' 'The Snail' 'The Arnolfini Portrait' 'The Fighting Temeraire' 'The Three Dancers' 'Adam and Eve' 'The Ambassadors' 'Queen Elizabeth I' ('The Ditchley portrait') 'The Lady of Shalott' 'The Great Wave' 'The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke' 'Nevermore' 'Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion' 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus' 'The Laughing Cavalier' 'The Linley Sisters' 'Madame de Pompadour'

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