World’s Largest Portrait Gallery Reopens After Major Three Year Renovation

The National Portrait Gallery in London has reopened today, 22 June, following the most extensive redesign of its building since it first opened beside the National Gallery in 1896. And what a transformation. The three-year, £41 million project has resulted in a complete redisplay of the entire Collection, a significant refurbishment of the building, the creation of new public spaces and a much brighter, more welcoming visitor entrance. The public space is about 20 percent larger but it feels even bigger, thanks to the inviting decor, clever curation and much brighter, lighter rooms. The architects Jamie Fobert and Purcell opened many original windows, doors and roof lights to bring in natural light.

A visit now is a completely different experience, from the moment you enter the new entrance on the North Façade through the Gallery’s new four meter high doors that feature 45 low-relief bronze panels, a special commission by Tracey Emin. The female portraits, representing “every woman, throughout time,” contrast nicely with the stone busts overhead of famous men like Holbein the Younger, van Dyck and Reynolds and give visitors a taste of the more inclusive space they’ll find inside.

The world’s greatest collection of portraits, spanning six centuries, has been re-hung presented in redecorated galleries and spaces. The museum’s collection has over 200,000 portraits, including paintings, sculpture, miniatures, drawings, prints and photographs.

The chronological hang takes visitors from the Middle Ages to the present day, telling the story of the United Kingdom through portraits. The new Blavatnik Wing with nine refurbished rooms, shows some of the greatest 19th and 20th century portraits in the Collection by painters like John Singer Sargent and Lucian Freud. Former office space upstairs is now a series of stunning top-lit galleries housing the Gallery’s contemporary collection with portraits by artists including Andreas Gursky, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Gillian Wearing.

On the ground floor, a new “History Makers” display, features a range of people influencing society and culture today including Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray and grime artist Stormzy.

Over 1,100 portraits are now on display, an increase of over a third from pre-closure. In addition to displaying many of the best-loved and most familiar portraits, like Holbein’s majestic drawing of Henry VIII, the Gallery has commissioned, acquired and borrowed new works to present a wider selection of people and stories.

Important new contemporary commissions include portraits of writer Zadie Smith by Toyin Ojih Odutola and Sir Michael Eavis by Sir Peter Blake. Loans of key sitters include Lady Margaret Beaufort, portrayed in the earliest known full-length portrait of an Englishwoman, 19th century mathematician and computer pioneer, Ada Lovelace by Margaret Sarah Carpenter and Anglo-Indian soldier Lieutenant Colonel James Skinner by the Delhi Court artist Ghulam Husayn Khan.

The gallery is definitely more inclusive with 48% of the portraits in the 20^th and 21^st century galleries of women (up from 35%), and 11% of all works on display are portraits of UK ethnic minority sitters (up from 3%). The historic and contemporary collections have been expanded through the acquisition of key works like Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai) and Everlyn Nicodemus’ self-portrait, the first painted by a black female artist to enter the Collection and feature borrowed portraits by contemporary artists of historical figures to broaden perspectives, such as Frederick Douglass by Elizabeth Peyton and Toussaint L’Ouverture by Lubaina Himid.

One of the most fascinating rooms has a display of life and death masks with historic icons and contemporary artists shown together: William Blake and William Wordsworth are alongside pieces by Emin and Gillian Wearing. And there’s a lovely porcelain mask of ceramicist Susie Cooper from the 1930s.

There is a new focus on photography, with over 20% more on show. This ranges from historic daguerreotypes being displayed and interpreted in new and interesting ways, fascinating Victorian cartes-de-visite and contemporary photography including images such as Kae Tempest by Wolfgang Tillmans and Gillian Wearing’s Me as Julia Margaret Cameron and two muses.

And don’t miss,

Portrait of Mai (Omai), Sir Joshua Reynolds c.1776, widely regarded as the finest portrait by one of Britain’s greatest artists. It depicts the first Polynesian to visit Britain.

The reopening exhibition programme includes two temporary shows. Yevonde: Life and Colour (22 June – 15 October 2023), explores the life and career of the twentieth century photographer, Yevonde, who pioneered the use of color photography in the 1930s. And next week, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm (28 June – 1 October 2023) will share, for the first time, rediscovered and never-before-seen photographs taken by Paul McCartney.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place​, London, WC2H 0HE​. Admission free. ​Open daily: 10.30 – 18.00​. Friday & Saturday: 10.30 – 21.00