The National Gallery

About The National Gallery

The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of Western European paintings from the late thirteenth to the early twentieth century. No other collection possesses such consistent quality, nor better tells the story of Western European painting.

The collection belongs to the nation and serves a diverse public from the UK and overseas. It is open to all, 361 days of the year, free of charge. Between 4 and 5 million people visit the National Gallery each year. Almost all of the 2,300 paintings in the National Gallery’s collection are on permanent display. The collection represents the greatest Western European painters including Van Eyck, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, Rembrandt, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Rubens, Velázquez, Van Dyck, Titian and Bellini. The Gallery’s key objectives are to enhance the collection, care for the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors.

Free Events

In addition to the courses, workshops, lectures and other events detailed above, the National Gallery has free talks and tours every day.

Guided tours – every day at 11.30am and 2.30pm.

Lunchtime talks – Tuesday to Saturday each week at 1pm.

Ten-Minute Talks – a quick insight into one painting, Monday to Friday at 4pm.

Picture in Focus – 25-minute talk on one painting, every Wednesday evening at 6pm.

Painting of the Month – a range of free talks at different times on one painting.

Art Through Words – session for visitors with a visual impairment, last Saturday of the month, 11.30am.

British Sign Language-interpreted events take place on the first Saturday of every month

For under 5s

Magic Carpet storytelling

Fly away on the magic carpet as it comes to land in front of a different painting each day. Each story ties in with the four workshop themes for this season.

10.30am – 11am and 11.30am- 12pm every Sunday

Meet in the Education Centre Foyer

Free Trails

Take a closer look at the paintings with one of our exciting trails tailored for different ages. Available every day from the Information Desks.

Audio Tours

Rub shoulders with royalty, be a detective, or teach your grown-up a thing or two about art. Available each day, please ask at the Audio Guide Desks.

No need to book for workshops and storytelling but places are limited and allocated on arrival. Children must be accompanied to all events.