Guide
The Pre-Raphaelites
Jewel colours, obsessive detail and a fair amount of drama — the rooms most visitors remember.
- Star work
- Millais, Ophelia
- Cost
- Free
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Founded
- 1848, in London
Who they were
A group of young artists — Millais, Rossetti and Holman Hunt among them — who decided in 1848 that British painting had gone stale. They went back to bright colour, sharp detail and subjects from poetry, legend and modern life.
Ophelia, up close
Millais painted the riverbank from life over months in Surrey, then the figure in a studio bath. Look at the flowers: each one is botanically exact and chosen for meaning. It is a small painting that holds a crowd.
What else to look for
- Rossetti's intense, close-up portraits of women.
- Holman Hunt's moral scenes, packed with symbols.
- Later Burne-Jones works, dreamlike and cooler in tone.
Correct as of August 2026 — check tate.org.uk before you travel.
A 30-minute route
Find Ophelia first while the room is quiet, then work outwards to the surrounding walls. Finish by walking into the modern rooms — the jump in style tells you how radical these painters once looked.