You might be cash-poor after Christmas, but London can make you creatively rich for nothing. One of the best things about the capital is its phenomenal art collection.
With approximately 1,000 museums and galleries – housing everything from ancient artefacts to classical works and modern-day masterpieces – the city is your oyster. And around 200 of these cultural gems are free to visit. Beatrice Squires reveals an eclectic handful.
Budding pilots and history enthusiasts will be awe-struck at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, a family-friendly space filled with military aircraft from World War I to the present day.
Experience what flying would have felt like through simulators and a 4D theatre – and even climb aboard a Spitfire Mk XVI for a fee.
Check out fun STEM Week activities including interactive bubble shows, laser tag sessions and even Aircraft Access (£12) with guided 50-minute sessions allowing you to get up close to four of the museum’s most significant aircraft. Furthermore, participants aged eight and above can build their own aeroplanes (£5) at the Airfix Model Club (from 24 Jan).
Another standout spot is White Cube, one of the world’s leading contemporary galleries and a launchpad for many major international artists. From 11 February, its Bermondsey space hosts the monumental works of Klára Hosnedlová. The Czech-born artist uses tapestry, embroidery and mixed materials to create dark yet ethereal installations inspired by the natural landscapes, heavy industry and folklore of her Moravian childhood. Her sculptures – weighty, industrial forms with alien-like tendrils – explore belonging and post-Soviet history and have often been described as post-apocalyptic.
Finally, the aptly named God’s Own Junkyard in Walthamstow will make you feel as if you’ve entered the fluorescent gates of neon heaven. Once a shop selling luminous signs, it was transformed by the founder’s son Chris Bracey – who elevated neon into an artform and created works for artists such as Martin Creed and films including The Dark Knight and Eyes Wide Shut.
Bracey became known as the ‘Neon Man’, and his legacy lives on in this glowing shrine to salvaged signs, movie props, circus lighting and found objects spanning 70 years. It’s a riot of colour and creativity that could give Vegas a run for its money.
