A British Institution for Art

The Tate is a government-sponsored British institution which includes four galleries - Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. Across these four outlets, the Tate is home to the UK’s collections of British, international modern, and contemporary art.

It was originally founded in 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art, and had just the one site at Millbank, London (now the Tate Britain).

It was renamed the Tate in the 1930’s, named after Henry Tate, a well-known sugar merchant who had helped to establish the gallery by donating considerable sums of money and a large number of paintings.