Why the Whitechapel Gallery is a top contender for a Toast the City award

The Toast the City Awards are mere days away – we ask if Whitechapel Gallery has what it takes to bring home a coveted Slice of Toast. The Whitechapel Gallery is one of the undisputed cultural heavyweights of the Square Mile. Having opened in 1901, with a stunning building designed by the architect Charles Harrison Townsend, it was among London’s first publicly funded galleries. Its mission statement was to democratise the often class-locked art world, bringing “the finest art of the world” to the people of the East End. It was popular from the get-go, with its debut exhibition, Modern Pictures by Living Artists, Pre-Raphaelites and Old Masters, drawing some 260,000 visitors, although legend has it this was in part down to the novelty of seeing electric lighting as much as the appeal of those Old Masters. This year marked the Whitechapel Gallery’s 125th year, making it a particularly apt time to look back at its triumphs. There is perhaps no 20th century painting more iconic t