Free Access to the Permanent Collection
The Tate Modern is one of the world's most visited modern art museums, and its permanent collection is entirely free. You can walk in off the street and spend as long as you like exploring galleries filled with works by Picasso, Warhol, Rothko, Dalí, Matisse, Monet and hundreds of other artists without paying a penny.
The free galleries are spread across several floors of the main Boiler House building and the newer Switch House extension (now called the Blavatnik Building). Together they house an enormous collection of international modern and contemporary art dating from 1900 to the present day. The displays are rotated regularly, so even repeat visitors will find new works on show.
What You Might Pay For
The museum hosts a programme of temporary special exhibitions throughout the year. These are usually large-scale, ticketed shows focused on a single artist or theme, and they take place in dedicated exhibition spaces separate from the free galleries. Past exhibitions have featured major retrospectives of artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Olafur Eliasson and Andy Warhol.
There are also occasional paid events, late-night openings and workshops. However, these are entirely optional additions to the core museum experience.
The Turbine Hall
One of the highlights of any visit is the Turbine Hall, the enormous former industrial space that runs the full length of the ground floor. The Turbine Hall hosts specially commissioned installations by leading contemporary artists, and these are always free. The annual Hyundai Commission has produced some of the most talked-about artworks in recent years, drawing visitors specifically to see what fills this vast space.
How Free Admission Works
Like other national museums in the UK, the Tate Modern receives a significant grant from the government through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This public funding is the foundation that makes free entry possible.
The museum supplements this with revenue from ticket sales for special exhibitions, its shop and restaurants, corporate sponsorship, donations and memberships. Voluntary donation points are placed throughout the building, and visitors are encouraged to contribute, but there is no obligation.
Why It Matters
Free entry means the Tate Modern is genuinely accessible to everyone. You do not need to commit to a full day or justify spending money on a ticket. Many visitors pop in for 30 minutes to see a single gallery or sit in front of a favourite painting. Others use the building itself as a destination, visiting the free viewing terrace on Level 10 of the Blavatnik Building for panoramic views across the Thames to St Paul's Cathedral.
The Tate Modern sits alongside the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum as one of London's great free cultural institutions. Between them, they make London one of the best cities in the world for free museum access.
