L Cornelissen & Son

The most beautiful art supply store in London. I felt the ghost of Lucien Freud while I walked around the store. I wonderful place to buy a family/​friend gift, or more likely, a gift for yourself! The shop was started in 1885 and is close to the British Museum. Besides oils and acrylics, they carry gilding and restoration materials.

Art supply shops near museums are well-​placed to catch you when you’re feeling inspired, although I’m always concerned that they are overpriced and capitalising on that inpiration. L Cornelissen & Son Ltd, near the British Museum isn’t a discount store, but neither is it a rip-​off. I would buy all my art supplies there just for the warm feeling of entering a shop that feels like one that great artists of the past must have entered. Its wood framed windows lure you in with beautiful brushes, pigments and all the goodies that we artsy types would spend more on than we could earn by selling our work!
They have an incredible selection of pigments, dry, watercolor, oil, gouche, et al. and all the tools and supports needed to work with them. I found the staff very knowledgeable about their product offering and learned that each of them is an artist in their own right, making it a mutually compatible experience all around.
But it’s the building’s old-​world charm that makes me love this little art store.

The best art shop in London —
wonderful paints & papers &
such helpful staff! They can
advise on art classes, materials
anything to do with art! Next door is the house
of Pugin, the famous architect.
Parking is a nightmare, so tube it!