Five great London art gallery member rooms
Art gallery members’ rooms can be a haven in the city – calm, inspiring places for PR professionals to work and meet. To celebrate World Art Day on 15 April, we bring you five of the capital’s best.
National Gallery
Overlooking Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery houses one of the world’s greatest collections of western European painting under one exceedingly grand roof. Among its greatest hits: Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, Velázquez’s The Rokeby Venus, Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – which survived a tomato soup attack by cheeky Just Stop Oil activists in 2022.
Annual memberships range from £45 (one free ticket to an exhibition of your choice and other discounts) to £68 (unlimited free exhibition tickets) and £130 – which includes access to the Supporters’ House: a dedicated space with lounge areas, soft sofas, wifi, bar, and dining options. There’s a private dining room too, for up to 12 guests, ideal for meetings or a cultured pause between the old masters.
National Portrait Gallery
The recently refurbished National Portrait Gallery features some famous faces across photography, painting, and contemporary media. Highlights of the permanent collection include self-portraits by Pauline Boty, Chris Ofili and Grayson Perry, and one of this correspondent’s personal favourites, Lady Colin Campbell aka Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, by Giovanni Boldini. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include retrospectives for Lucian Freud and Marilyn Monroe.
Membership options range from £61 all the way up to £230 a year – for which you get to take away any artwork of your choice. Not really – but you do get an invitation to a private view once a year.
Benefits include unlimited free entry to exhibitions, members-only viewing hours, priority bookings for events, 10% shop and cafe discounts – the latter at Larry’s Bar, which works as a ‘pop up’ member lounge between 11am and 5pm and then offers priority seating to members when it transforms into its speakeasy, cocktail serving alter ego at dusk.
Royal Academy of Arts
Founded in 1768, the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly is the oldest fine art institution on this list and a major centre for exhibitions spanning old masters to contemporary artists. And as a member, you’ll get to previews shows before they open to the public.
Membership starts from £160 per year (with joint and premium tiers available) and includes unlimited exhibition entry – although some specially ticketed or blockbuster shows may require additional admission. Members also benefit from priority booking for events, along with shop and programme discounts.
At The Keeper’s House, a stylish members’ retreat behind Burlington House, you’ll find comfortable lounges, the Shenkman Bar and the lovely Keeper’s Garden terrace – ideal for a coffee, a quiet meeting or moment of calm between exhibitions. While the Academicians’ Room offers a more intimate space for focused work or conversation.
Tate Britain
The original home of the Tate collection, some of the nation’s most recognisable paint jobs are here, including Millais’ Ophelia, Hockney’s A Bigger Splash, and some visionary stuff from William Blake, such as Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils. Plus, Bridget Riley, Francics Bacon – and the largest collection of Turners in the world. Recent hits have included the work of the extraordinary model, muse, and war photographer Lee Miller, and a forthcoming Whistler retrospective in 2026.
Annual membership for you and a guest is £120 – trust me, it pays for itself quite quickly – and covers Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. (Membership also gets you into the beautiful Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives too.)
The elegant members’ room used to be the director’s office as well as Tate’s library and archive before being transformed into the contemplative, wifi enabled space it is today. Other perks include unlimited exhibition entry, dedicated members’ hours, special events, and 10% gift shop discount.
Tate Modern
Housed in the former Bankside power station, this is the UK’s flagship museum of international modern and contemporary art. Inside, you’ll find heavy hitters such as Picasso’s Weeping Woman, Matisse’s Snail and Roy Lichtenstein’s Whaam! While the vast Turbine Hall installations are worth the trip alone. Recent smashes have included a Leigh Bowery exhibition and at time of writing a major retrospective for Tracey Emin.
The Tate Modern’s members’ room offers calm, glass-fronted space, located on the eighth floor, with stunning, panoramic river views and wifi. Membership prices and perks are as above.
Ali Catterall is an award-winning writer, journalist and filmmaker whose writing has featured in the Guardian, Time Out, GQ, Film4, Word magazine and the Big Issue, among many others. Ali is also the writer and director of the 2023 film Scala!!!
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