The Whitechapel Gallery was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend and opened in 1901. It was one of the first publicly funded galleries in London.
The gallery exhibited Pablo Picasso's Guernica in 1938 as part of a touring exhibition organised by Roland Penrose to protest against the Spanish Civil War.
Initiated by members of the Independent Group, the gallery brought Pop Art to the attention of the general public as well as introducing some of the artists, concepts, designers and photographers that would define the Swinging Sixties.
