National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery 🎨 World's largest portrait Collection
🖼️ Open daily 10.30-18.00
🌃 Fri & Sat 10.30-21.00
❤️ Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait coming soon...
(16299)

The ‘King of Bling’ Charles II was born (guess the reference below 👇) Entering London to reclaim his throne at the age...
29/05/2026

The ‘King of Bling’ Charles II was born (guess the reference below 👇)

Entering London to reclaim his throne at the age of 30, Charles reopened public theatres after nearly 20 years of closure. His court quickly became known for extravagance and luxury. He had 14 children with many mistresses and was known for being cynical, lazy, and for saying one thing and doing another, but also for his political adeptness and charm.

🎨 King Charles II attributed to Thomas Hawker, circa 1680 © National Portrait Gallery, London

28/05/2026

Wedgwood pottery is instantly recognisable today... but do you know it’s origin story?

‘St Amputation Day’ was coined by Josiah Wedgwood to mark the day his leg was amputated following a bout of smallpox, leading him to revolutionise the production and distribution of ceramics.

Today, Daniel enjoys a Lamington in the Audrey Green cafe, using a Wedgood plate, teacup and saucer lent by 🫖

27/05/2026

What would you say to Anne Boleyn if you met her?

Watch as the stars from 1536 (a new Tudor inspired show on London’s West End) met one of our star portraits, Anne Boleyn 🌟

Visit Anne (the portrait) in Room 1, Floor 3 at the NPG.

Can you spot the Ostrich feather fan? Regarded as one of the most important surviving images of Queen Elizabeth I, our ...
27/05/2026

Can you spot the Ostrich feather fan?

Regarded as one of the most important surviving images of Queen Elizabeth I, our shows off her family resemblance and was likely painted from life.

Elizabeth looks cold, haughty and imperious, wearing a rather masculine doublet with a lace ruff collar, a double string of pearls looped around her neck and carrying an ostrich-feather fan. The portrait may have been painted by a Flemish artist, perhaps one visiting England for a short period. It is likely that it was commissioned by a courtier close to the queen, and it is possible that the pendant or the ostrich feather fan may have been a gift from that person.

See this sitter up close in Room 1 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery.

🎨Queen Elizabeth I by Unknown continental artist, circa 1575 © National Portrait Gallery, London

26/05/2026

Hear from Jon Sleigh as he tells us why Catherine Opie means so much, to so many people ❤️  

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen closes on 31 May 2026. 

★★★★ - The Guardian, ★★★★ The Independent

This photograph was taken in Paris – Kristin Scott Thomas’ home from the age of 19 ❤️ Born , the actress starred in the...
24/05/2026

This photograph was taken in Paris – Kristin Scott Thomas’ home from the age of 19 ❤️

Born , the actress starred in the 1988 film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust and went on to act in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient, and the hit TV show Slow Horses.

📸 Kristin Scott Thomas by Alistair Morrison, 1997 © Alistair Morrison

Jumping for joy this bank holiday weekend 😄Here, Philippe Halsman captures a playful and unexpected portrait of Marilyn ...
24/05/2026

Jumping for joy this bank holiday weekend 😄

Here, Philippe Halsman captures a playful and unexpected portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Taken in his New York City studio in 1959, this shoot was done to promote the film ‘Some Like it Hot’. Here, Monroe embodies Halsman’s concept of ‘Jumpology’, which Halsman described as ‘the art of capturing the true spirit of your subjects’. Initially a reluctant jumper, Monroe overcame her inhibitions. A variant of this photograph became a famous cover of Life magazine, the widely read publication that kept Monroe’s image firmly in the public eye.

See this portrait and many more in Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, open 4 June 2026.

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/marilyn-monroe-a-portrait

📸 Marilyn Monroe, 1959, by Philippe Halsman © Philippe Halsman Estate 2026

‘Cartes-de-visite' are small portraits which broadened the depiction of celebrities in the 19th century. Giana De Dier r...
23/05/2026

‘Cartes-de-visite' are small portraits which broadened the depiction of celebrities in the 19th century.

Giana De Dier reimagines the language of this format, to highlight contemporary changemakers from the African and Caribbean diaspora. Using a photomontage technique that overlaps objects and locations, the artist spotlights everyone from activists to foster carers, chief executives to artists, coders to criminologists, and so many more.

This series of portraits is displayed in Room 22 alongside examples from the Gallery’s Collection of Victorian cartes-de-visite.

The portraits were commissioned for the ‘Artists First: Contemporary Perspectives on Portraiture’.

📸 Craig Pinkney 📸 Carolyne A. Opinde 📸 Zeineb Sebri; Mukhtar Hassan 📸 Dawn Carter-McDonald 📸 Rosemarie Mallett 📸 David McQueen © 2025, Giana De Dier. Commissioned for Artists First with kind support from the CHANEL Culture Fund, 2025

23/05/2026

The hair is giving main character energy... 

Join our Chief Curator, Flavia Frigeri, as she looks to hair as the ultimate fashion statement. 

🎨’John Wilkes and his daughter Polly’ (Mary (‘Polly’) Wilkes; John Wilkes) by Johan Joseph Zoffany, exhibited 1782 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Who do you think of when someone says Goth? Characterised by macabre themes, dark clothing and iconic eyeliner, for Worl...
22/05/2026

Who do you think of when someone says Goth?

Characterised by macabre themes, dark clothing and iconic eyeliner, for World Goth Day we are turning to the literary roots of this subculture...

Horace Walpole was credited as starting it all with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, about a haunted castle. Swipe to discover Mary Shelley, a pioneer of the Gothic genre in the 19th century, and the writer of Frankenstein in 1818. Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897, and Lord Byron, who was considered a romantic poet, often characterised his hero with Gothic conventions, embodying a dark and rebellious spirit.

🎨Horace Walpole by Sir Joshua Reynolds, circa 1756-1757 🎨 Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell, circa 1831-1840 📸 Bram Stoker by W. & D. Downey, 1906 🎨 Lord Byron by Richard Westall, 1813 © National Portrait Gallery, London

21/05/2026

‘One of the things I really love about portraiture is the imagined relationship between the sitter and the artist’

Nina Mae Fowler sat down with our Contemporary Curator, Tanya Bentley, to discuss her portrait commission of film directors for the NPG.

Come and see Fowler’s portraits before they come off the walls on 8 June.

You can listen to this full interview in episode two of the ‘Understanding British Portraits Podcast’ on Spotify.

🖌️Collection of film director portraits, charcoal and pencil on paper by Nina Mae Fowler, 2019 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Address

St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H0

Telephone

02073060055

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when National Portrait Gallery posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to National Portrait Gallery:

Shortcuts

Share

Category