Great Galleries in London

Sure, London is famous for its museums: the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tates…Frank Sinatra even sang about the British Museum! But where you’ll find the up-and-coming or cutting-edge artists is in London’s smaller galleries—and there are plenty of them scattered throughout the city.

Each day, you can head out from your centrally located New York Habitat vacation rental in London and discover another exciting and talented artist in the capital’s galleries. With such a vast array of visual arts at your doorstep, you may never see London the same way again.

An always-good bet is the Photographers’ Gallery off Regent’s Street in Mayfair, which is presenting dual shows of Andre Kertesz’s black and white photos of readers in unlikely places, as well as an exhibit of (often outrageous) men’s fashions.

The small Serpentine Gallery in the middle of Hyde Park has a Jeff Koons exhibit running until mid-September, so there’s plenty of time before summer runs out to catch his inflatable beach toys artfully rendered in aluminium. What’s more, the entire Serpentine

Pavilion is itself a temporary work of art, designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.

The Hayward Gallery on South Bank, close to Lambeth, allows viewers to access the mindscapes of ten international artists through large-scale installations. This creative exhibit stretches into early September.

The excellent Whitechapel in Aldgate, close to East End, presents the British Council Collection of sculpture and the East End Academy: Painting Edition, showcasing work by artists who live in London’s East End, as well as American painter Elizabeth Peyton’s moody, atmospheric works.

If you like your art with a little bit of nature (and interaction), Artangel at Harper Road in Bloomsbury is displaying Roger Hiorns’s ‘Seizure,’ which converts an abandoned council flat into a cave-like structure with sparkling blue copper sulphate crystals that you can walk through.

To bring the artistic vision back with you, consider staying in these well-designed New York Habitat flats in London:

• A stylish studio in Bayswater, Westminster (LN-472) just a few yards from Hyde Park. This flat, in a newly refurbished six-story terraced building with elevator, boasts an Italian kitchenette, an ensuite bath with wall-hung wash basins, an oak wooden floor and bar stools.
• A spacious studio in Bayswater, Westminster (LN-538) that comes with both a double bed and double sofa bed. Other fabulous features include a wooden bar, glass-fronted storage cabinets, and a built-in wardrobe.
• A gorgeous 1-bedroom rental accommodation in Marble Arch, Westminster (LN-749) on Hyde Park Place on the upper ground floor of a period building beautifully restored with original features. This rental includes a king bed (hard to come by in London), a laundry/dryer, two baths (one with Jacuzzi), Smeg appliances, a plasma TV, traditional wooden flooring, and exceptionally high ceilings. All rooms face a communal private garden.

Face it: Regardless of  what you saw in a Night at the Museum, you can’t sleep in a gallery—but you can enjoy artistic accommodations in London with New York Habitat.

Which of the above exhibits appeal most to you—or do you know another must-see gallery in London? Let us know in a comment below.