Lauren Perera
London’s best art isn’t always where you’d expect to find it. Skip the queues and the crowds, these three under-the-radar galleries prove that the city’s most rewarding cultural experiences are often hiding in plain sight
London’s art scene extends far beyond the Tate and National Gallery. Some of the best artworks are hidden in the city’s side streets and quiet corners with no queues and no crowds. Whether you’re an avid art lover or just after a more interesting afternoon, these under-the-radar galleries are worth adding to your list.
Hidden away behind St Paul’s Cathedral, the Guildhall Art Gallery is one of London’s best-kept secrets. This free-to-enter treasure trove showcases beautiful Victorian paintings upstairs, displaying the City of London Corporation’s impressive collection. But the real surprise awaits underground. In the basement lie the remains of London’s Roman amphitheatre, built around 70 EC and discovered during construction in 1988. There’s something striking about standing in the exact spot where gladiators and wild animals fought nearly two thousand years ago. The contrast between the grand Victorian art above and the ancient ruins below makes for such a unique experience you won’t find anywhere else in London. The gallery also offers free guided tours if you want to learn about both the art collection and the archaeological discovery. It’s the kind of place that leaves you wondering why more people don’t know about it.
Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE
Right outside Aldgate East Station sits the Whitechapel Art Gallery, a powerhouse of contemporary art that punches well above its weight. Currently showing Joy Gregory’s Catching Flies with Honey, featuring over 250 works of photography that tell stories of Black and Feminist art. One standout is the multimedia installation Memory and Skin, with striking portraits alongside Cabinets of Curiosity, with displays of shells, leaves, cigars, liquor bottles, and colonial relics. These pieces recall the routes through which Caribbean culture first entered the European imagination via trade and empire. Equally compelling is Candice Lin’s g/hosti, which evokes a sense of childhood wonder through hand-drawn animations and phone screens displaying drawings of dancing cats. These are combined with graphic images from real protests, all while Underworld’s Born Slippy blasts through the speakers. The juxtaposition is jarring, playful, and profoundly effective.
77-82 Whitechapel High St, Shadwell, London E1 7QX
The Barbican Centre might be well known as a brutalist architectural landmark, but its art gallery remains surprisingly under-visited. The gallery’s next major exhibition is a retrospective of the groundbreaking Colombian artist Beatriz González, running from 25 February to 10 May 2026. Bringing together over 150 works spanning six decades, from monumental paintings to repurposed furniture, wallpaper and installations, the exhibition examines how González transforms popular postcards, newspaper clippings and reproductions of Western art into sharp critiques of power, bearing witness to violence and offering moving reflections on grief, displacement and community in Colombia and beyond. It is the first UK retrospective of her work, making it a rare and significant opportunity to engage with one of Latin America’s most important political artists.
The Barbican Centre might be well known as a brutalist architectural landmark, but its art gallery remains surprisingly under-visited.
Level 3 of the Barbican Centre, Silk St, London, EC2Y 8DS