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Explore the Black figure in Western art history with contemporary artists from the African diaspora, curated by Ekow Eshun

Experience the creative and imaginative portraiture of influential photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron, spanning over a century

Historic paintings by Hans Holbein and contemporary photography by Hiroshi Sugimoto meet in our first exhibition of historic portraiture since reopening

The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award returns to the National Portrait Gallery, showcasing the very best in contemporary portraiture

Featuring works from the 1950s onwards, this exhibition will explore Francis Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture

Showcasing the work of talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals, the Prize features the very best of contemporary photography

Join our monthly evening life drawing class, led by a figurative artist, and hone your technical drawing skills in a range of media.

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Join Ekow Eshun, curator of The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, in conversation with Dorothy Price, curator of the Royal Academy’s Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change.

Join us for a Members’ Late to view The Time is Always Now and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron

Lunchtime Lecture by Jo Willett celebrating the legendary actress Sarah Siddons and the first biography about her in over 50 years

Join us for an exclusive Members-only walking tour around Westminster as, revealing connections between people in the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection and significant locations nearby

Screening of Super Sam, followed by an In Conversation with director Sandi Hudson-Francis

Screening of The Watermelon Woman that tells the story of Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye), a twentysomething black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s black film actress popularly known as “The Watermelon Woman”

Join visual artist Shannon Bono to learn the basics of figurative painting in this two-day workshop

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Join Valérie Belin, the Photo London Master of Photography 2024, in conversation with curator, Holly Roussell

Discover the work of makers selected for the Shop to compliment the Gallery’s exhibition The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure.

In this lecture, contemporary artist Esther Teichmann will look at the ways in which photography is used to transport a viewer beyond reality and into a dream space

Bring faces to life this half term through fun hands-on activities.

Aged 15-18 and interested in finding out more about creative careers? Join us for a three-day insights programme offering behind-the-scenes access to the NPG

Join our monthly life drawing class held in the Ondaatje Wing Theatre

Join Drag Artist Timberlina, on an irreverent tour of the Gallery, focused on the extraordinary life of the Chevalier d’Eon

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Join contemporary photographer Eddie Otchere for a Members-only photography workshop introducing analogue portrait photography

Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe lecture one. Elizabeth Norton explores seven ages of Tudor woman, from childhood to old age

Join exhibition curator Charlotte Bolland as she introduces the Gallery’s new major exhibition Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe lecture two. Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d’Albret

Join our monthly evening life drawing class, led by a figurative artist in the Ondaatje Wing Lecture Theatre

Join our free monthly audio described tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

A unique opportunity to attend an interpreted performance of the award-winning SIX the Musical at the Vaudeville Theatre and Deaf-led BSL tour of Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens

Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe lecture three. Nicola Clark explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting

Join this evening painting class for Members, led by an exhibiting artist from this year’s Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award

This panel discussion will explore different perspectives on adapting the biographies of Henry VIII's Queens for storytelling in musicals, operas and plays, novels, film and television

Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe lecture four. Emily Butterworth will introduce the figure of Queen Marguerite de Navarre

Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe lecture five. John Guy and Julia Fox explore the most infamous of Henry’s marriages

Tudor historian Suzannah Lipscomb explores the historiography of Henry VIII’s Queens

Drawing on the extensive variety of objects from the Tudor court as seen in Six Lives: The Story of Henry VIII’s Queens, this study day is a chance to learn from a range of art historians, authors and academics about the historic material culture on display

Featuring 18 large-scale portraits, Silent Testimony is a display by Belfast-born artist Colin Davidson

This display invites visitors to discover new portraits, archive material and oral histories that go behind the scenes at Ilford Film and Elstree Studios as part of our People Powered programme.