On the first day of our art journey, we focus on Dorothea Tanning's exhibition in Tate Modern. There's a lot to say about the artist, but the museum itself serves as a modern art icon. Read further to learn some nuances and simple facts about Tate you probably haven't heard yet:
1. Tate Modern was opened on the 12th of May 2000, however the frirst gallery from the Tate chain, Tate Britain, was opened as early as 1897. It displayed a small collection of british artworks.
2. Since its opening, the museum has been already visited by over 40 million people.
3. There are 3 other tate galleries: the original Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives
4. Tate Modern's building is a former Bankside Power Station, which in 1994 was redseigned for exhibition purposes by Swiss architects: Herzog & De Meuron.
5. The southern third of the building is owned by a French copmany, EDF Energy and serves as electrical substation. That explains the frequent noise in the turbine hall.
6. The famous turbine hall is 35m high and 152m long and could actually fit 7 London buses on top of each other.
7. Despite the fact that the museum entrance is free (only some guest exhibitions require tickets), Tate Modern generates annually around £100 million in exonomics benefits to London.
8. Tate has got its own publishing branch, which releases art-focused books and albums.
9. There was a lot of controversy about the initial plans of building the chimney (tallest element of the building). Due to the building's central location right in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, there was a major concern that the chimney will impose itself too much on the view. In the end, the chimney was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (who also designed the classic red telephone booth) and is 99m tall (12m shorter than St. Paull's)
10. The building has been a filming location for couple of films and TV programs, for example 'Judge Dredd' and 'Bridget Jones's Diary'.
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