Tate Modern is not just a museum. It is a London power station that has become one of the most visited and influential centres of contemporary art in the world. Since opening in 2000, it has been visited by more than five million people, making it a symbol of the cultural renewal of an entire district of London. Its permanent collection is not arranged chronologically but is organised thematically.
History: from electricity to art
Tate Modern arose from the need to expand space. By the 1980s, the main Tate gallery at Millbank could no longer accommodate the growing collection. In December 1992, the trustees announced the creation of a separate gallery for international modernism and contemporary art.
Tate Modern opened in 2000 in the Bankside Power Station, built in 1963 to a design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and abandoned in 1981. The reconstruction was carried out by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, which preserved the industrial frame — unplastered brick and steel beams — and created gallery spaces inside. In 2016, the Switch House (now the Blavatnik Building) was added to the building.
The main space is the Turbine Hall, the former machine hall 35 metres high, where monumental installations are held. The Tanks — former underground oil tanks — became the world`s first museum halls dedicated to performance, installation and experimental film.
Painting movements in the collection of Tate Modern
Cubism — represented most fully and systematically
This is one of the strongest sections of the collection. The gallery has a separate zone, "Cubism, Futurism and Vorticism". Here you can trace the evolution from Analytical Cubism to Synthetic Cubism through key works by Picasso, Braque and Léger. Braque is represented by "Glass and Table" (1909–1910) and "Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on a Mantelpiece" (1911) — these are effectively a textbook of Cubist language. There are also Juan Gris, Metzinger and Gleizes — second-tier artists without whom Cubism cannot be understood.
Surrealism — the most spectacular block
The "Poetry and Dream" room on Level 3 is the heart of the gallery. Tate officially calls Surrealism one of the four key movements in its collection. Here are Dalí, Ernst, Magritte and De Chirico. Dalí`s "Metamorphosis of Narcissus" (1937) is the central work. Surrealism is shown not only through painting but also through Man Ray`s photography and films by Buñuel and Dalí. The density of works here is higher than in any other room.
Abstract Expressionism and European Art Informel
Tate identifies this movement as one of its four main ones. Jackson Pollock is represented by significant works. Mark Rothko is a must-see: his colour fields are the direct heir to Matisse`s freedom of colour. But in terms of the number of rooms and works, this block is inferior to Surrealism.
Pop Art — little, but every work is an icon
Tate does not aim to show Pop Art exhaustively. But here you can see several masterpieces. Lichtenstein`s "Whaam!" (1963) is a programme piece, a manifesto of the movement. Warhol`s "Marilyn Diptych" (1962) is the most recognisable Pop Art work in the collection. Richard Hamilton, the founder of British Pop Art, is also present — Tate held a major retrospective of his work. But overall this movement is represented selectively rather than panoramically.
Minimalism — declared a priority, but mainly through object and installation
Minimalism is the fourth of Tate`s key movements. However, in painting it is represented more weakly than in sculpture and object. Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Dan Flavin are the artists whose works form the block. Painterly Minimalism (for example, Frank Stella) is present but does not occupy separate large rooms.
Post-Impressionism and Fauvism
Monet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin — these names are in the collection and serve as a starting point for everything else. Fauvism is represented by Matisse and Derain. But Tate Modern is not a 19th-century museum. These works are shown in context, not as a separate major line. Matisse is one of the most present artists: besides early works, there are late works, including "The Snail" (1952–1953).
Expressionism — present, but fragmentary
Munch, Kirchner and Beckmann are in the collection, but Expressionism does not form a separate large section. It is woven into thematic blocks, most often in connection with Surrealism or abstraction.
Summary of movements at Tate Modern
If you are going for painting, the richest route is Level 3: Surrealism, Picasso, Matisse, Bacon, Rothko. Cubism and Surrealism are what Tate Modern can truly be proud of. Pop Art and Minimalism are strong through individual works, not through volume. Post-Impressionism and Fauvism are an important background but not the semantic centre of the collection.
Exhibits for a close look at Tate Modern
Salvador Dalí — "Metamorphosis of Narcissus" (1937)
Dalí called his paintings "hand-painted photographs of dreams". The hyper-detailed technique here shows him as a virtuoso academic draughtsman, something often lost behind his scandalous imagery. In 1938, Dalí brought this work to London to show it to Sigmund Freud.
Pablo Picasso — "Three Dancers" (1925)
A dark masterpiece, painted under the impression of the death of his friend, Ramon Pichot. Picasso said: "While I was painting this picture, my old friend Ramon Pichot died… The tall black figure behind the dancer on the right is the presence of Pichot."
Henri Matisse — "The Snail" (1952–1953)
One of Matisse`s last works, created in the cut-gouache technique (gouaches découpées) a year before his death. It is considered the greatest of his late cut-outs.
Andy Warhol — "Marilyn Diptych" (1962)
Fifty repeated portraits of Marilyn Monroe, in which the colour gradually fades. An icon of Pop Art and a reflection on the reproduction of the image and the fragility of fame.
Marcel Duchamp — "Fountain" (1917/1964)
A replica of a urinal signed "R. Mutt" — the work that made the world argue about what can be considered art at all.
Louise Bourgeois — "Maman" (1999)
A giant bronze spider that greeted the first visitors on the gallery`s opening day. It has become an unofficial symbol of Tate Modern.
Jackson Pollock — "Summertime: Number 9A" (1948)
One of the key works of Abstract Expressionism, in which painting is created through the energy of gesture and the artist`s physical movement.
Roy Lichtenstein — "Whaam!" (1963)
A monumental canvas in the style of a comic strip — a model of Pop Art, in which a banal image is turned into an icon through scale and technique.
Guerrilla Girls — "Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?" (1989)
A poster that has become one of the most recognisable feminist statements in 20th-century art.
Start on Level 3 in the Natalie Bell Building — there you will find Surrealism (Poetry and Dream) and the rooms of Picasso, Matisse, Bacon and Rothko. Then go up to Level 5 for Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. If you want to see Duchamp`s "Fountain" — ask at the entrance which room it is currently displayed in, as works are periodically moved.
