Although our doors are currently closed, we are still committed, during our transformation project, to bring people together by sharing the portraits and stories of the men and women who have shaped our nation.
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Operating as usual
All 100 #HoldStill2020 photographs can be found on digital screens in the grounds of the National Memorial Arboretum, offering visitors a space to reflect on their experience of the pandemic.
⭐On until 6 December ➡️ http://ow.ly/kNh450CBq1i
Pianist Harriet Cohen was born #onthisday 1895.
Although particularly associated with J. S. Bach's music, Cohen performed a wide repertoire of standard classics as well as new music. The composer and conductor Constant Lambert, among others, wrote for her, and Sir Arnold Bax, a close friend, composed ‘Concertino for Left Hand’ for Cohen after she lost the use of her right hand in 1948.
📷 by Joan Craven, circa 1930-1935
Today’s #portraitoftheday is of Henry VII - the earliest painting in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection.
🎨 King Henry VII by Unknown Netherlandish artist, 1505 © National Portrait Gallery, London
“It shows my sister-in-law with her grandmother (Dadi in Punjabi) meeting after months of being apart. In this moment I felt the depth of love they feel for each other, captured by both the joy and longing in their eyes.”
📷 Dadi’s Love by Simran Janjua, London
#HoldStill2020
Discover our great selection of Tudor-inspired #Christmasgifts this #MuseumShopSunday.
🎁🎄 https://bit.ly/3mq9LXh
🎅 Final orders for standard UK delivery by 21st Dec
Today’s #portraitoftheday is of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
In the 1980s, the Gallery embarked on an active policy of commissioning portraits of scientists. One of the first such commissions was of Stephen Hawking, who at the time was known only to specialists for his distinguished work on relativity. Three years after this portrait was painted Hawking published ‘A Brief History of Time’ (1988) – a book that made him a household name.
🎨 Stephen Hawking by Yolanda Sonnabend, 1985
Jimi Hendrix was born #onthisday in 1942.
Hendrix, known for his dandyish looks and groundbreaking guitar playing, became an icon for the social liberation of the sixties. His hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience included ‘Are You Experienced?’ (1967) ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ (1967) and ‘Electric Ladyland’ (1968).
📷 Jimi Hendrix by Ian Wright, 2 February 1967 © Ian Wright / National Portrait Gallery, London
The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020 celebrates and promotes the very best in contemporary portrait photography from around the world.
Explore the virtual exhibition today ➡️ http://ow.ly/qYdV50Cvw5X
📷 'Self-portrait as My Father' by Silvia Rosi © Silvia Rosi
“A single parent household, with 3 children living in a second floor flat. We have spent many of our days on here appreciating this small confined outdoor space.”
📷 Outdoor Space by Val Azisi, from Hampshire
Discover #HoldStill2020 ➡️ www.npg.org.uk/HoldStill
Third prize goes to Yolanda Y. Liou for ‘Enam Ewura Adjoa Asiama’. Yolanda’s portrait is from a collaborative on-going project ‘Thank You For Playing With Me’ with artists Enam Ewura Adjoa Asiama (the sitter) and Vanessa Charnell Marshall Russell.
Discover the award winning #PhotoPrize works in our online exhibition ⭐️ www.npg.org.uk/photoprize ⭐️
Second prize for this year's #PhotoPrize is awarded to Lydia Goldblatt. Lydia’s portrait ‘Eden’ is part of a larger series made during 2020, titled ‘Fugue’ – an exploration of intimacy and distance, brought to the fore through lockdown and Covid-19.
Congratulations to Alys Tomlinson winner of this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize for her works ‘Samuel’, ‘Jack’ and ‘Jameela’ from the series ‘Lost Summer’.
⭐️ Reflecting on her work Tomlinson says “There is a quietness to the images and they represent a loss and longing, but also celebrate each teenager as an individual, navigating this extraordinary time.” #PhotoPrize
Our #Portraitoftheday is of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi.
Paolozzi was a printmaker, sculptor and inspirational teacher; a founder of the Pop Art movement he used images from popular culture and the commercial world for his collage-based work. His striking works can be enjoyed across London – from the colourful mosaics that brighten Tottenham Court Road tube station, to public sculptures at the British Library and Euston station.
🎨 Sir Eduardo Paolozzi by Cathleen Sabine Mann, circa 1952
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?”
Mary Ann Cross (née Evans), known by her pen name George Eliot, was born #onthisday 1819.
George Eliot by Sir Frederic Williams Burton, 1865, © National Portrait Gallery, London
“During lockdown, my dad became one with our garden and inspired us as a family to pitch in and come closer together in this time…”
📷 ‘The Gardener’ by Phoebe Costard, from Berkshire
Discover the final 100 #HoldStill2020 portraits ➡️ http://ow.ly/XcC850CqoLe
Today’s #portraitoftheday is St. Lucian poet, playwright, theatre director and #NobelPrize winner Derek Walcott.
🎨 Derek Walcott ('The Sun Poet') by Ross Wilson, 1997
'Such a joyful and heart-warming photograph of admiration and devotion.'
📷 One Team by Matt Utton and Jennifer O'Sullivan, from London
Gallery Director and judge Dr Nicholas Cullinan shares his personal highlights from #HoldStill2020 ⭐http://ow.ly/yEQC50Cp03N
Check-in next Tuesday at 10am as we announce the winner of this year's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020.
The shortlisted artists (from left -right) are...
⭐'Eden' by Lydia Goldblatt
⭐'Enam Ewura Adjoa Asiama' by Yolanda Y. Liou
⭐ 'Samuel,' 'Jack' and 'Jameela' from the series 'Lost Summer' by Alys Tomlinson
"The title 'Ilaw ng Tahanan' translates as ‘the light of the home’, which describes the role of mothers in Filipino culture, as they are seen as bringing warmth and hope to the home.”
📷 Ilaw Ng Tahanan by Romina Amor Rabe, from Eastbourne, East Sussex
Discover the final 100 #HoldStill2020 portraits in our online exhibition ⭐ http://ow.ly/P6vi50CmDYC
Today’s #portraitoftheday is this compelling portrait of novelist and critic, Virginia Woolf by her sister Vanessa Bell.
Virginia Woolf was a founding member of the Bloomsbury Group of writers, artists and intellectuals who from the first decade of the 20th century challenged convention. Woolf became a prolific author. Many of her novels, notably Night and Day, Jacob's Room, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves, pioneered the use of the interior monologue, or 'stream of consciousness' and transformed ideas about structure, plot and characterisation. Her essay A Room of One's Own has become a classic of feminist literature
This portrait, painted while Woolf was working on her first novel, captures her in a private moment, leaning back in a chair knitting. The informality of the image provides an intimate glimpse of an individual who later became recognised as one of the greatest modernist writers of the 20th century. Subject throughout her life to episodes of mental illness, Woolf is revealed here as if inhabiting that secluded world from which her art would grow.
Virginia Woolf by Vanessa Bell, 1912 © National Portrait Gallery, London
“It's easy to forget how much we need our mouths to communicate and convey emotion, until there is a mask in front to prevent it. I took this picture to show that our NHS and our nation can still find light in the darkest of times. Keep smiling and be haPPE!”
📷 HaPPE by Imogen Johnston from Liverpool, Merseyside
Head to our website to discover the final 100 #HoldStill2020 portraits: https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/
Our #Portraitoftheday is artist Anna Zinkeisen.
Painted in circa 1944, in this self-portrait, Zinkeisen looks out at the viewer with a gaze that confidently positions her as artist, woman and worker. You’ll notice the artist’s use of light and colour directs us to her painting arm. Look even closer and you will see the bracelet around her wrist bears the insignia of the St John Ambulance Brigade, an organisation she volunteered for as a casualty nurse during the Second World War.
🎨 Anna Zinkeisen by Anna Zinkeisen, circa 1944
Gallery Director and #HoldStill2020 judge Dr Nicholas Cullinan reflected on the project’s themes of Our New Normal, Helpers and Heroes, and Acts of Kindness. Take a look: http://ow.ly/Wk9D50CjxGc
📷 Home Hair by Karni Arieli from Bristol
Buying from your favourite gallery or museum online shop is a great way to show your support, so #ShopMuseums to enjoy exclusive ranges of Collection inspired products.
⭐ Explore #ShopMuseums ➡️ or take a look at our shop https://npgshop.org.uk/
Today’s #Portraitoftheday is, India’s first female lawyer and social reformer, Cornelia Sorabji.
📷 Cornelia Sorabji by Lafayette, 20 June 1930
This #RemembranceDay discover the sitters in our Collection that gave the ultimate sacrifice during, or as a result of, the #FirstWorldWar - ow.ly/UkgFc
#LestWeForget
🎨 Rupert Brooke by Clara Ewald, 1911
"There are infinite modes of expression in the world of art, and to insist that only by one road can the artist attain his ends is to limit him."
Jacob Epstein was born #onthisday in 1880.
📷 Jacob Epstein with plaster of 'Social Consciousness' by Ida Kar 1951-1953
“This is a studio portrait of Tendai, a recovery and anaesthetics nurse, who was born in Zimbabwe, and now lives in my local town - Reading, Berkshire. I wanted to portray her caring side as well as a look of concern and uncertainty that many of us have experienced during this pandemic."
📷 At the End of a Shift by Neil Palmer from Reading, Berkshire
Discover the final 100 #HoldStill2020 portraits: http://ow.ly/7Zjz50CdzOZ
Dame Maud McCarthy was Matron-in-Chief for the British Armies throughout #WW1, travelling on the first troopship to France in 1914. By 1918 she was in charge of 6,500 nurses dealing with battle wounds, the threat of infection, and gas attacks. #RemembranceSunday
🎨 by Frank Salisbury
Marie Sklodowska Curie, chemist, physicist and Nobel Prize winner, was born #onthisday in 1867.
Our #Portraitoftheday is Karin Jonzen’s 1971 bust of cricketer, politician, lawyer and high commissioner of Trinidad & Tobago, Learie Constantine.
“Remember, Remember the fifth of November”
This print, by Crispijn de Passe the Elder, includes the only contemporary portrait of Guy Fawkes and other members of the plot to destroy the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Look closer and you'll notice the names of the conspirators inscribed in Latin above their portraits. The text below describes the events of the plot and the fate of those involved. Look again, and you'll see it is written in Latin, French and German, which indicates the international audience for this image.
🎨 The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators, 1605 by Crispijn de Passe the Elder, circa 1605
For this month’s #Portraitofthday series we will be focusing on the 20th century portraits in our Collection. ⭐Tell us your favourite for a chance to feature...
🎨 Sir Kazuo Ishiguro by Peter Edwards, 1995
We are delighted to announce that Lydia Goldblatt, Yolanda Y. Liou, and Alys Tomlinson have been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020. The winner will be announced digitally on Tuesday 24 November.
📷 Head to our website to learn more about this year's #PhotoPrize finalists: www.npg.org.uk/photoprize
We are proud to be one of the galleries exhibiting ‘The National Lottery’s Portraits of the People’ @LotteryGoodCauses by photographer Chris Floyd which launches online today, celebrating this year’s unheralded champions of the arts sector, #ThanksToYou. Click here to view the full collection: http://ow.ly/qEEN50C9fzY
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For this how to guide Sadie Lee considers the range of colours that artists might select when making paintings.
For this how-to guide artist Peta Taylor will be taking you through a fine line pen exercise - a simple, yet impactful technique🖊️
Artist Robin-Lee Hall offers some tips and tricks for composing a basic portrait ✏️
'a little girl needs to go into the National Portrait Gallery and see me and think, "I can be represented in that way too"' BP Portrait Award artist Charles Moxon caught up with his sitter British entrepeneur Sharmadean Reid MBE.
We are excited to reveal three more images from the final 100 #HoldStill2020 portraits. Launched by the Duchess of Cambridge, Hold Still invited people from across the UK to submit a photographic portrait taken during lockdown. Focused on three core themes – Helpers and Heroes, Your New Normal and Acts of Kindness – the final 100 will feature in a digital exhibition, launching on Monday 14 September. This project is being supported by international law firm Taylor Wessing, long-time sponsor of the National Portrait Gallery 📷 Rainbow By Helen Pugh; Empty by Julie Thiberg ; ‘Keep smiling through. Just like you always do. ‘Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away’ By Jessica Sommerville
The Gallery is about to undertake a major new chapter in its history. The Inspiring People project will greatly improve the building and facilities for future generations and give us the opportunity to re-display the Collection, with new interpretation including multiple voices, and hidden histories. Many visitors have expressed disappointment that they were unable to visit the Gallery and say goodbye to ‘old friends’. So, we made a film…
What is a ground? And why are they used? 🎨 Watch and listen as artist Sadie Lee takes us through this artistic practice.
In June we welcomed Classic FM to the Gallery for a series of exclusive live sessions. Listen as Violinist Jennifer Pike performs ‘Sarabande’ from Partita in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach 🎻 🎶 Film courtesy of Classic FM
“When I finally stood in front of your portrait, it was the most extraordinary feeling, because I felt seen” #BPPortrait Award artist Jamie Routley caught up with his friend and sitter sculptor Nicola Hicks.
After over 31,000 entries to #HoldStill2020, the community photography project spearheaded by the Duchess of Cambridge, we are excited to reveal three of the final 100 images 👀 The panel of judges was made up of: the Duchess of Cambridge; Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery; Lemn Sissay MBE, writer and poet; Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England; and Maryam Wahid, photographer. The full selection will be unveiled in the digital exhibition on Monday 14th September. npg.org.uk/hold-still 📷: Prayers for Our Community; Gimba – the Ward Host; We’re Really Lucky to Have a Garden.
Our new MAKE ART series offers top tips for budding artists. For this film Peta Taylor will be taking you through a short drawing exercise. The aim - to build confidence and develop your 'looking' skills.
#BPPortrait artist Papay Solomon painted his friend Benjamin as part of a series of large-scale portraits, in which Soloman used 'hyper-realism to explore the language of portraiture to expand African narratives.’ Watch their conversation 🎦
Earlier this year we welcomed Classic FM to the Gallery for a series of exclusive live sessions. 🎵 Enjoy Andrey Lebedev 's performance of Garôto's ‘Lamentos do morro’. 🎵
We continue our series of Classic FM live sessions with Alexandra Whittingham, and her performance of 'Forgotten' by Catharina Pratten 🎵
We continue our series of Classic FM live sessions with Ashok Klouda, and his performance of Cello Suite No.5 III. ‘Courante’ by Johann Sebastian Bach 🎵
In June we welcomed Classic FM to the Gallery for a series of exclusive live sessions. Enjoy as Violinist Jennifer Pike performs ‘The Lark Ascending’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams 🎻🎵
Lola Flash's work has been at the forefront of visual politics for over three decades, challenging gender, sexual and racial stereotypes. Hear BP Portrait artist Sarah Jane Moon and Flash reflect on identity, visibility and the story behind the portrait.
"I was grateful to return to the Golden Temple and to create portraits that shine a light on the humble acts of ordinary people..." Watch as BP Travel Award 2019 winner Manu Saluja offers a behind the scenes insight into her award-winning project, and artistic process.
BP Portrait Award artist Thomas Leveritt spoke with his sitters, Emily and Funmi - both frontline NHS staff. During the conversation they reflected on the portrait, the pressures of working in healthcare, and the immediacy of the work's message since the global Covid-19 pandemic.
⭐For those of you that missed #HockneyDrawings, take a moment to enjoy this curator's tour ⭐ This exclusive footage was made possible thanks to the Gallery's long-term supporter, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.
Happy Birthday to actor and writer Meera Syal. To celebrate we're taking a look back to our COMING HOME project. Watch as Wolverhampton discuss their local hero, and what 'home' means to them.
For those of you that missed Cecil Beaton's Bright Young Things and can't wait for the tour, enjoy this curator-led overview by Robin Muir. This exclusive footage was made possible thanks to the Gallery's long-term supporter, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. #HSFlegal
Today is your final chance to enter #HoldStill2020. Spearheaded by The Duchess of Cambridge, this ambitious community project will create a unique photographic portrait which captures the spirit, mood, hopes, fears and feelings of the nation as we continue to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak. 📷 Enter to be in with a chance of featuring in our online exhibition, open to all. Entry closes today, 18 June at 6pm : www.npg.org.uk/holdstill 🌟The project is being supported by international law firm Taylor Wessing, long-time sponsor of the National Portrait Gallery.
Selected from 1,981 entries by artists from 69 countries around the world, the BP Portrait Award 2020 represents the very best in contemporary portrait painting. Discover the online exhibition today: www.npg.org.uk/bpportrait
There’s not long left to take part in #HoldStill2020. This ambitious project will create a unique photographic portrait which captures the spirit, mood, hopes and fears of the nation as we continue to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak. Find out more: http://ow.ly/okXN50A4UhS
“I made it kind of nostalgic looking because it’s soon to be a memory, once society becomes normal again” This #carersweek, we’re featuring some of the wonderful #HoldStill2020 entries from young carers at the Renaissance Foundation. Photographers Jal, Ananya and Ose responded to the theme ‘Your New Normal’, creating photographic portraits of their lives during the pandemic. Submit your photographs to Hold Still today, closing 18 June: https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/
We are a Gallery about people and for people. In solidarity with the black community across the world, we recognise that we have a responsibility to face the need for change and to speak out against all forms of racism and discrimination following the tragic death of George Floyd and the events of recent days. #BlackLivesMatter The National Portrait Gallery exists to tell the story of the people who have made and are making British history and culture. We are aware that many works in our historic Collection represent white privilege and that we have our own challenges to face to ensure that we better represent the history and experiences of all the people of the UK. We are working hard to change this and are committed to finding new ways to tell the stories of all those who are under-represented. Our thoughts are with George Floyd’s family and all those who continue to suffer from racism and violence across the world.
National Portrait Gallery, London
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The Royal Air Force Museum, London
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