When you enter Tate Modern you'll find yourself in its most suggestive space: Turbine Hall, a huge thirty-five meter tall hall with five floors that constantly host new installations of contemporary artists. To your right is the area called The Tanks, which are three large oil tanks that also host exhibitions. When visiting the gallery, don't merely admire the works, but also pay attention to the never-casually created contrasts between the industrial architecture and art exposed on a rotating basis.
The itinerary also often changes in the forty halls of the so-called "permanent collection".
Let me fill you in on an important premise: the immense artistic heritage of Tate Modern is not displayed in chronological order, but around four "thematic nuclei" that pass through all 20th-century art: the development of form, Abstract Art, Surrealism, and the value of the artist's gesture.
In addition to the ubiquitous figure of Picasso, who is a bit like the common thread weaving through the transformations of art in the 1900s, you'll also find masterpieces by masters such as Modigliani and Matisse, Klee and Kandinsky, Henri Moore and Miró, as well as a full review of pop art.
From Turbine Hall you can either go to the upper floors by passing through the Switch House on your right, or through the Boiler House on your left. Keep in mind that the permanent collection is displayed in the rooms on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, while on the first floor you can shop or enjoy a break in a chocolaterie or in a bar with a terrace.
If you prefer a full meal, there's a casual bistro on the sixth floor of the Boiler House, while the ninth floor of the Switch House has an elegant restaurant with an à la carte menu. But one thing you absolutely can't miss is the bar on the tenth floor of the Switch House, where you can take in a spectacular panorama while enjoying coffee or a typical English beer.
FUN FACT: contemporary art is closely tied with transgression; but this is also true for the Bankside district where Tate Modern is located, which has been associated with transgression since Roman times when it was a sort of red light district! In the 16th century Henry VIII closed the brothels, which then reopened during the reign of his daughter Elizabeth I.
