The National Gallery is the large building with the colonnaded facade that dominates the north side of Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. The area directly in front has been pedestrianised which is great for visitors and allows people to easily walk down to Nelson’s Column and the surrounding fountains.
The National Gallery was set up in 1824 with an initial collection of 38 paintings by the likes of Rembrandt and Raphael and as the name says was for the nation and the benefit of all. The main gallery was built in 1834 and as the collections have grown bits have been added.
Inside, the National Gallery is huge, the gallery rooms have high ceilings and it seems like there’s an endless number of them. This is one of those places where its a good idea to try and figure out a few things you want to see before starting to look around, because it’ll take you all day to have a look at each of the paintings on show here and after a while you’ll stop taking anything in.
Over the years through generous donations and acquisition’s the National has built up a collection of more than 2,300 paintings and the majority of these are on permanent display in the gallery.
They’ve been arranged and put on display in a chronological order, Early Renaissance(1250-1500), High Renaissance(1500-1600), Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish painting(1600-1700), Venetian, French, English painting(1700-1800), English, French, German painting(1800-1900). There are works by pretty much all the great artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Reubens, Caravaggio, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Constable.
As well as the permanent collections there are also special exhibits and retrospectives put on with paintings from their own collections and ones loaned by other galleries and museums. One that’s currently on and worth seeing is Manet to Picasso which uses the National’s own works to look at the development of painting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some famous Van Gogh and Monet paintings are on show here among others.
This show is on in the Sainsbury Wing (right) which you can enter through its own entrance or by making your way through the main building. Manet to Picasso is in six rooms downstairs and is on until May 2007. Halfway down the large staircase you’ll see the entrance to the National Dining Rooms, a very nice looking restaurant which is open daily from 10am-5.30pm(Wed 8.45pm). There are a couple of other cafes around the building.
Manet to Picasso is free like the rest of the National Gallery but for some of the special exhibitions there is an admission charge, currently Velázquez requires an entrance fee.
The National Gallery is open everyday from 10am-6pm (Wed 9pm), its closed 24-26 December and 1 January. The nearest tube is Charing Cross or Leicester Square.
The best way to use it in my opinion is to go in for a short spell, check out some stuff and return when you’re passing again, don’t overload with 2,000+ paintings in one go. Map
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