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 The
elegant Tate Gallery, overlooking the Thames, was built through
the philanthropy of the sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate.
The building, with its neo-classical
portico, dates from 1897 and is on the site of a former prison,
the Millbank Penitentiary. The Penitentiary was an attempt
to create a model prison based on the ideas of Jeremy Bentham
but the grim institution was replaced by the more enlightened
Tate Gallery.
Over the years the Tate Gallery
amassed a superb collection of British works from the 16th
to the 20th century, along with a collection of modern international
art.
In 1987 the adjoining Clore Gallery,
designed by the British architect James Stirling, was completed
to house the Turner Bequest. Since 2000 the Tate's collection
has been divided between Tate Britain, housed in the original
Tate Gallery, and Tate Modern on the South Bank.
 In
2001 a major building project at Tate Britain redeveloped
the north-west corner of the building, designed by architects
John Miller and Partners. The new galleries for early
English paintings have increased the display area, created
an additional entrance on Atterbury Street, and added educational
and public facilities.
When the Tate
Modern gallery opened at Bankside in 2000 the Tate's
collection of international modern art from 1900 to the present
day was transferred from the Millbank site, leaving extra
space. Tate Britain now covers work from 16th century
to the present day, with rooms dedicated to artists such Blake,
Constable, Spencer and Bacon and contemporary British artists.
Highlights of Tate Britain include
works by Hogarth, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, Stubbs,
Blake and the Pre-Raphaelites.
There is
overlap between the Tate Britain and Tate Modern on contemporary
British work. The Tate Modern displays British artists
in an international context but Tate Britain continues to
house the Turner Prize exhibition.
As well as the permanent collection
Tate Britain also stages regular special exhibitions, for
which there is usually an admission charge.
The adjoining Clore Gallery now
houses the magnificent Turner Bequest. J.M.W. Turner
, 1775 - 1851, left his works to the nation on the condition
they were all kept together. In 1910 a suite of rooms
at the Tate Gallery was given over to some of his oil paintings
but it was not until the Clore Gallery was opened in 1987
that the entire collection, including thousands of studies,
was brought together.
There are plans to link Tate
Britain by boat, shuttle bus, and pedestrian and bicycle routes
to the new Tate Modern on Bankside.
  The
Tate-to-Tate boat is now in operation from the newly desgned
and constructed Tate pier.
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