Free art in London

After falling into the art world by accident, the rather wealthy Alex Sainsbury (yes, from the supermarket) started Raven Row in 2009 by taking over two adjoining houses dating from 1690, splashing around a lot of white paint (with the help of architects 6a) and presenting an inaugural exhibition by New York pop artist Ray Johnson. Almost 20 years later the gallery hasn’t upped sticks to St James’ like a lot of commercial places do, and remains one of east London’s best places to see contemporary art.  

Nestled next to Camberwell School of Art and with Goldsmiths to the east, you’d expect the South London Gallery to know its art onions – and you’d be right. This gallery is fast becoming one of the city’s most important art spaces, programming some of the biggest up-and-coming names around. Art shows here are consistently exciting, with impressive installations that transport you to new places. Exhibitions are free to enter, and span the gallery's two buildings: the capacious original gallery, and the new converted fire station down the road.

This small commercial gallery is helping to keep Bethnal Green’s art heart beating. The building itself – a graffitied block on Cambridge Heath Road – has an arty and interesting history, with former stints as an umbrella factory and the studio of Turner Prize-winning photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Inside it hosts some of London’s most exciting and cutting-edge contemporary art shows, with previous exhibitions coming from the likes of Jenkin Van Zyl and Parker Ito. 

Autograph was founded in Brixton in 1988 as an organisation to support Black photographers – back then it was known as the Association of Black Photographers. Still going strong almost 40 years later, now Autograph operates as a free art gallery, research centre and advocacy charity out of its HQ in Rivington Square in Shoreditch. Displaying mainly photography and film, Autograph platforms artists who explore issues of race and identity in their work – it’s essential stuff. 

You might know this cavernous Old Street gallery as the place everyone queues around the block to get into whenever it puts on a Yayoi Kusama show. But there’s more to this beautiful space than dotty pumpkins and infinity mirrors, and a visit to this ex-Victorian furniture factory rarely disappoints. Victoria Miro first opened her gallery in Mayfair's Cork Street in 1985. It quickly became known for showcasing the work of established and emerging artists from the USA, Europe and Asia, and as a breeding ground for exciting new British talent. In 2000 Victoria Miro Gallery relocated to this expansive 8,000 square-foot space located right on the border between Hoxton and Islington. The exhibition space spans two floors and the gallery is almost unique in London for having its own landscaped garden, overlooking Regent's Canal, which has been used for installations by artists such as Yayoi Kusama. Among the glittering clutch of artists it represents are Turner Prize winners Grayson Perry and Chris Ofili. 

White Cube Bermondsey is London’s ultimate mega-gallery. The one that started it all. White Cube brought us Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and loads of other YBAs. And after moving into its huge south London space a few years ago, it became one of the first museum-quality commercial galleries in the world. With no permanent collection, the changing exhibitions here feel like shows at massive institutions. Their Emin, Andreas Gursky and Anselm Kiefer shows are worthy of any Tate or RA.

This huge listed Mayfair townhouse looks like a spa, with five storeys of serene white spaces and immaculate marbled floors, but the only thing getting a treatment here is your eyes. With outposts in London, Paris, Salzburg, Milan and Seoul, Thaddeus Ropac represents some of the most exciting names in contemporary art – upcoming exhibitions including works from Turner Prize nominees Tanoa Sasraku and Kira Freije – and also stages exhibitions with works from big names such as Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys. 

Founded in Peckham in 2011, this commercial art gallery has operated out of a bright two-storey space in swanky Mayfair since 2021. It’s bread and butter is early to mid-career artists whose work often raises questions around identity, politics and society, including British 2023 Turner Prize winner Jesse Darling, and 2025 Turner Prize nominees Rene Matić and Nnena Kalu. Exhibitions staged at 35 Duke Street are challenging, radical and regularly-changing.

Located inside an unsuspecting old sandwich shop by Smithfield Market (the entrance still bears a sign reading ‘Sunset Sandwich Bar II’), this tiny gallery is anything but as humdrum as its exterior would suggest. Since being founded by Freddie Powell in 2021, Ginny on Frederick’s single tiled room has made a name for itself by hosting quirky and diverse shows by young and up-and-coming artists.