National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery 🎨 World's largest portrait Collection
🖼️ Open daily 10.30-18.00
🌃 Fri & Sat 10.30-21.00
🧚 Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends now open!
(16236)

Discover the artist Pauline Boty when she was young and in love 💘 Photographed by her boyfriend at the time, David Crip...
03/10/2026

Discover the artist Pauline Boty when she was young and in love 💘

Photographed by her boyfriend at the time, David Cripps, in this intimate series, Boty is confident and charismatic, donning a 1960s beehive hairstyle, a Bardot dress, and winged eyeliner.

During this period, Boty won a scholarship to attend art school to study stained glass, as evidenced by her famous self-portrait in the same medium, already in our Collection. The earliest of these 35mm slides were made when she was a student of the Royal College of Art – where Boty met Cripps.

This collection of images has now been acquired into our Collection. Read more here: https://www.npg.org.uk/blog/blog-container/pauline-boty-another-look

📸 Pauline Boty by David Cripps c.1959-60 © David Cripps

'I do feel that I can stand up in the National Portrait Gallery and say ‘Thank you’ to whatever the Establishment is. Th...
03/10/2026

'I do feel that I can stand up in the National Portrait Gallery and say ‘Thank you’ to whatever the Establishment is. Thank you for letting me shine a light on all these incredible people. Because if I was that little boy being taken to this exhibition, everything would have been different.'

Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends opens next week on Friday 9 October 2026. Have you planned your visit yet?

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/tim-walkers-fairyland-love-and-legends

📸Tim Walker with Fairies, London, 2026 © Tim Walker

How many items can you spot flying around this painting? 🐓 It’s your last chance to visit the Herbert Smith Freehills Kr...
02/10/2026

How many items can you spot flying around this painting? 🐓

It’s your last chance to visit the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026, which finishes on 7 October. This painting by Haley Hasler, entitled Pieta with Home Life, is a surreal composition which gradually evolved to include an array of household items. To capture them, Hasler suspended items in the air with string and painted them from life.

🎨 Pieta with Home Life by Haley Hasler, 2025 © Haley Hasler

Plan your visit: https://brnw.ch/21x67JG

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... 🐭 This National Poetry Day, we’re shining light on Scotland’s natio...
01/10/2026

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... 🐭

This National Poetry Day, we’re shining light on Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. Burns was born into a farming family in the lowlands of Scotland, which had a rich oral culture of folk songs and tales in the Scots dialect. His first major publication was Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), it was immediately successful. Later in his career, he published The Slave’s Lament, a vivid description of local life and issues. His Auld Lang Syne is still sung to welcome in the New Year in Scotland 🎆

🎨 Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth, circa 1821, based on a work of 1787 © National Portrait Gallery, London

'Practically perfect in every way', today we celebrate Julie Andrews' birthday. A star on stage and screen, Andrews has ...
01/10/2026

'Practically perfect in every way', today we celebrate Julie Andrews' birthday.

A star on stage and screen, Andrews has enchanted audiences with her voice, elegance, and countless unforgettable performances. Which one is your favourite?

See this portrait in Cecil Beaton: Staging Icons at @[urn:li:organization:680166:Harewood House Trust] on display until 18 October 2027.

https://harewood.org/events/cecil-beaton-staging-icons/

📸 Julie Andrews by Cecil Beaton, 1959 © Cecil Beaton Archive / Condé Nast

You might have seen Nelson’s Column from afar, but have you seen him up close?Born , the Vice-Admiral's victories durin...
29/09/2026

You might have seen Nelson’s Column from afar, but have you seen him up close?

Born , the Vice-Admiral's victories during the Napoleonic Wars gripped the public’s imagination – and made him one of Britain’s greatest naval heroes. He was famously killed by a sniper in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), now commemorated by his column in Trafalgar Square.

If you’d like to take a closer look at his likeness, you can visit his portrait in Room 18 on Floor 3 of the National Portrait Gallery – just around the corner!

🎨 Horatio Nelson by Sir William Beechey, 1800 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Hands up who loves Wolf Hall? 🤚 Today’s is Dame Hilary Mantel, a British novelist and travel writer. Mantel won the Ma...
26/09/2026

Hands up who loves Wolf Hall? 🤚

Today’s is Dame Hilary Mantel, a British novelist and travel writer. Mantel won the Man Booker Prize twice for her historical novels about Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012). The final instalment of this trilogy came out in 2020, also to critical acclaim.

📸 Dame Hilary Mantel by Sally Soames, 1992 © Sally Soames

These are our self-portrait show-stoppers... but you can't eat them 🍰Explore our Seeing Self display in Room 29 on Floor...
25/09/2026

These are our self-portrait show-stoppers... but you can't eat them 🍰

Explore our Seeing Self display in Room 29 on Floor 1 for free now.

🎨Lindsay Kemp by Lindsay Kemp, circa 1974 © David Haughton and Daniela Maccari, 2024 🎨Dame Paula Rego ('Self Portrait') by Dame Paula Rego, 1994 © The Estate of Paula Rego. Courtesy Estate of Paula Rego and Victoria Miro 🎨Ceri Richards by Ceri Richards, 1934 © National Portrait Gallery, London

You might know who’s been shortlisted, but do you know our judges? For this year’s Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize, ...
24/09/2026

You might know who’s been shortlisted, but do you know our judges?

For this year’s Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize, the judges include the Gallery’s Director, Victoria Siddall, and Photography Curator, Brandei Estes. We also welcome the photographer Nadine Ijewere, the broadcaster and author Emma Dabiri, and photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney.

Exhibition opens 5 November 2026.

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/winston-taylor-photo-portrait-prize-2026

🤝 Supported by Winston Taylor

📸 Group photo by Clementine Williamson

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