Paid entry. Adults £12, U18s free, as of August 2025.
Tuesday-Sunday
What it is
Museum tags: Art; Fine art; Architecture
The world’s first purpose-built public art gallery, home to an important collection of art by the old masters. You’ll find many big hitters here – including works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Van Dyck. The building is a landmark in its own right – designed by John Soane, its been a core influence on art galleries the world over ever since.
An unexpected delight was Jan van Huysum’s floral still lifes. They were utterly remarkable in their realism. And the fact that van Huysum took a year to complete each painting, so that he could include flowers that bloomed in different seasons, creating a bouquet that could never exist in reality, only added to this.
But overall, the highlight for me is its history. The oldest purpose-built public art gallery in the world, in a building designed by Sir John Soane.
The area is also, of course, beautiful – in an old-money English aristocracy sort of way. The very, very wealthy Dulwich Village and the extremely elite Dulwich College. Nice to look at, if slightly uncomfortable because of its association with Nigel Farage.
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