Whitechapel Gallery

The Whitechapel Gallery opened its doors in nineteen hundred and one with a radical purpose. Its founder, Canon Samuel Barnett, believed that high art belonged to the working class of the East End just as much as it belonged to the elite of the West End. He staged the first exhibition using pieces borrowed from private collections and national museums to prove that residents here possessed a deep appetite for fine art. This social experiment fundamentally challenged the idea that galleries were exclusive preserves for the wealthy.