The Gallery is closed for refurbishment but as soon as it reopens, we will put the opening hours here.
The National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place,
London, WC2H 0HE
The closest stations are :
The National Portrait Gallery, situated just at the back of the National Gallery, was founded in 1856. Before getting to its current building, the collection moved a lot - Westminster, South Kensington, Bethnal Green. The gallery opened in its current building in 1896.
It was established by three men - Philip Stanhope, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) and Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) - after three attempts at the House of Commons.
Originally, it was decided by the Trustees that "No portrait of any person still living, or deceased less than 10 years, shall be admitted by purchase, donation, or bequest, except only in the case of the reigning Sovereign, and of his or her Consort". This rule changed in 1969 in order to encourage a policy of admitting living sitters.
The aim of the gallery is to promote through the medium of portraits the appreciation and understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture, and ... to promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media.
It holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world.
The gallery closed in 2020 for a very important refurbishment project and should reopen in 2023.
A major study of the Black figure – and its representation in contemporary art. The exhibition, curated by writer Ekow Eshun, showcases the work of contemporary artists from the African diaspora and highlights the use of figures to illuminate the richness and complexity of Black life. As well as surveying the presence of the Black figure in Western art history, we examine its absence – and the story of representation told through these works, as well as the social, psychological and cultural contexts in which they were produced.
21 March - 16 June 2024
Photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. They lived a century apart – Cameron working in the UK and Sri Lanka from the 1860s, and Woodman in America and Italy from the 1970s. Both women explored portraiture beyond its ability to record appearance – using their own creativity and imagination to suggest notions of beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling. Showcasing more than 160 rare vintage prints, Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In spans the career of both artists – and suggests new ways to look at their work, and the way photographic portraiture was created in the 19th and 20th centuries.