If you want to look at paintings, the Wallace Collection wins: it is twelve minutes' walk from Frameless, it holds real Rembrandts and Titians, and it costs nothing. Frameless wins only if what you actually want is the spectacle of being inside a projection, and for that a family of four should buy the £86 family ticket rather than four singles.
Frameless sits at Marble Arch and calls itself the UK's largest permanent immersive art experience. Thirty thousand square feet of dark rooms, floor-to-ceiling projection and 158 surround-sound speakers turn more than forty famous paintings into moving, wall-sized animations. There are no canvases and no frames. That is the point of the name.
It is a genuinely impressive piece of engineering and a poor substitute for a gallery. Both of those things are true at once, and which matters more depends entirely on who is in your group.
Frameless, Marble Arch
- Adult
- From £29.50 online in advance
- Child
- From £20
- Family
- From £86
- Senior
- From £21
- At the door
- Up to 20 per cent more than the online advance price
- Time needed
- About two hours; last entry two hours before closing
- Open
- Monday to Thursday 11am-6pm; Friday 10.30am-10pm; Saturday 10am-10pm; Sunday 10am-6pm
- Nearest station
- Marble Arch, one minute's walk
What two adults and two children pay
Bought as singles, two adults and two children come to £99 at the lowest published advance rates. The family ticket starts at £86, so buying the family option saves £13 and is the only sensible choice for a group of that shape. Booking online rather than at the door saves up to a further 20 per cent, and prices move with the date and the time slot, so the calendar figure for a Saturday in half term will be above the "from" price.
| Ticket | From (online advance, September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Adult | £29.50 |
| Child | £20.00 |
| Senior | £21.00 |
| Family | £86.00 |
| Frameless Lates (18+) | £21.00 |
| Parent and toddler session | £21.00 |
A free carer ticket can be added alongside a paid adult or child ticket during checkout, with proof of Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment shown on arrival.
The family ticket is £13 cheaper than four singles, and nobody points this out at the door. Two adults and two children buying separately pay £99 at the advance rate. Select the family option in the booking calendar instead and start from £86, then book online rather than at the venue for up to 20 per cent off on top.
The four galleries, and what is actually in them
Your ticket covers four rooms, visited in any order, plus a fifth called Blank Canvas that holds short residencies at no extra cost. The projections are grouped by theme rather than by artist, which is why describing the place as a Van Gogh show is misleading: he appears in one room among five other painters.
- Beyond Reality - dreams and the surreal: Munch, Bosch, Dalí, Klimt, Rousseau, Ernst.
- Colour in Motion - brushwork enlarged until you can walk into it: Monet, Van Gogh, Signac, Seurat, Delaunay, Morisot.
- The World Around Us - landscapes, seascapes and landmarks: Canaletto, Monet, Rembrandt, Ruysch, and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling reimagined.
- The Art of Abstraction - a maze of shape and colour: Kandinsky, Klimt, Mondrian, Malevich, Klee.
Two of the galleries carry an original score by Nick Powell; the other two are curated by Chapman Hammond. Information panels, a nine-language guide and QR codes sit in the Crossing Gallery before you enter each space, so read them there if you want to know what you are looking at, because there is nothing to read inside the rooms.
What children make of it
Younger children tend to love the first room and lose interest in the fourth. The rooms are dark, the images move constantly and the music in each gallery peaks above 85 decibels, which is loud enough that Frameless keeps ear defenders at the desk and hands them out on request. Ask for a pair before you go in rather than after the tears.
There is no strobe lighting in the four main galleries, but there are sudden changes in light level, including flashes of lightning in The World Around Us. If your child is sound-sensitive or unsettled by the dark, the Chilled Sessions are the version to book: they are quieter, less busy and designed for disabled and neurodivergent visitors. Separate parent-and-toddler tickets and multi-sensory classes for very small children run on selected dates.
Be careful with the evening. On Friday and Saturday the Lates sessions make the venue 18-plus, and all visitors under 18 are asked to arrive by 4pm. A family turning up at 6pm on a Saturday with a booking will not get in.
Under-18s must be inside by 4pm on Friday and Saturday. Frameless becomes an adults-only venue for its Lates sessions on those two evenings. It is the single most common way a family wastes a ticket here, and the rule is not obvious on the booking page.
The free alternative twelve minutes away
Walk east from Marble Arch along Oxford Street and turn up into Manchester Square and you reach the Wallace Collection in about twelve minutes. It is free, needs no ticket, opens every day of the year bar the three days at Christmas, and holds the original paintings that immersive shows borrow: Rembrandt, Titian, Velázquez, Canaletto, Fragonard. On most days you can stand in front of the famous ones alone.
For a family of four the arithmetic is brutal: £86 against nothing, for a building with chairs, a courtyard restaurant and rooms you can leave when a child has had enough. If the reason for the trip is the paintings, go there, and spend the £86 on something the city does not give away.
The National Gallery is the other free comparison, twenty-five minutes away by bus or Tube, with the Van Goghs and Monets that Frameless projects. Note that the Sunflowers are on loan to Philadelphia until 11 October 2026.
The closest free thing in the same register as Frameless, though, is not a gallery at all. The giant screens at Outernet, next to Tottenham Court Road station, run wrap-around digital art four storeys high for nothing, with no booking. It is shorter, louder and less coherent, and it answers the question "what does immersive projection feel like" for free.
The other immersive venues in London
Frameless is the only permanent one of its kind, and that is worth knowing because the market churns. Pop-up immersive shows appear in empty retail units for a season and vanish, several trading on the same handful of painters, and a venue you read about a year ago may not exist.
The one fixed alternative is Lightroom at King's Cross, in Lewis Cubitt Square, which runs a single artist-led show at a time rather than a permanent collection. Through this autumn it is showing a David Bowie programme, until 10 January 2027, with a Wallace and Gromit show opening on 14 October 2026 and a Matisse programme announced for early 2027. That changing bill makes it the better bet for a second visit, and the Wallace and Gromit show is the one genuinely aimed at children.
If what your family wants is the tactile rather than the projected, our page on the homemade arcade machines in Holborn costs a fraction of this and involves putting your hand inside things.
Getting there, and how long to allow
Marble Arch station is a minute's walk. Bond Street is eight minutes, Edgware Road twelve and Marylebone fifteen. Buses 2, 6, 7, 13, 23, 36, 74, 94, 98 and 137 all stop at Marble Arch. Frameless recommends allowing about two hours, and last entry is two hours before closing, so a 4pm arrival on a Monday leaves you no time at all.
The whole building is wheelchair accessible, including the toilets and the café bar, but there is a strict limit on how many visitors with mobility needs can be inside at once for safety reasons, so groups with more than one wheelchair user should contact the venue in advance. Our guide to accessible London covers how the major attractions compare.
Around it: Marble Arch itself and Park Lane take fifteen minutes to see, Oxford Street starts at the door, and Hyde Park is across the road for the hour after a dark room, which children need. Check the venue's own calendar before travelling: it was closed on 23 September 2026, from 28 September to 1 October, and again on 5 and 6 October, which is more closed days than most paid attractions have in a year.
For wider planning, our family guide to London compares the cost of the big paid attractions, indoor ideas for a wet day with children has cheaper alternatives, and our list of free things to do in London is the honest counterweight to a £86 ticket.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Frameless cost in London?
Online advance tickets start at £29.50 for an adult, £20 for a child, £21 for a senior and £86 for a family. Buying at the venue costs up to 20 per cent more. Prices vary with date and time slot, so check the booking calendar. Prices checked September 2026.
How long does Frameless take?
Frameless recommends about two hours for the four galleries, and last entry is two hours before closing. You can move between the rooms in any order, and there is a café bar and a shop on site if you want to break the visit in half.
Is Frameless suitable for young children?
Children are welcome and there are parent-and-toddler sessions, but the rooms are dark, the images move constantly and the music can peak above 85 decibels. Ear defenders are available on request. Chilled Sessions are quieter and designed for visitors who prefer less stimulation.
Can children go to Frameless in the evening?
No. On Friday and Saturday evenings the Lates sessions make Frameless an 18-plus venue, and all visitors under 18 are asked to arrive by 4pm. Plan a family visit for the morning or early afternoon on those days.
Is there a free alternative to Frameless in London?
Two. The Wallace Collection, twelve minutes' walk away in Manchester Square, is free and holds the original paintings. For the projection experience itself, the Outernet screens by Tottenham Court Road station are free and need no booking.
Sources
- FRAMELESS - tickets, prices and opening hours (checked September 2026)
- FRAMELESS - the galleries and the experience (checked September 2026)
- FRAMELESS - accessibility information (checked September 2026)
- FRAMELESS - where to find us (checked September 2026)
- The Wallace Collection - plan your visit (checked September 2026)
- Lightroom, King's Cross - what's on and opening times (checked September 2026)
- Outernet London - frequently asked questions (checked September 2026)