Bring your group to the Gallery and enjoy a private tour of the Collection or an illustrated exhibition talk with specialist historians, artists and art historians. Chose from our menu of favourite Gallery tours and exhibition talks or create your own with our bespoke tours.
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Select from our menu of tours below:
Spanning six centuries of history, the Gallery tells the story of Britain through portraits of men and women who have made a significant contribution to British life. From Elizabeth I and Henry VIII to Shakespeare, Cromwell, Nelson, Dickens, Churchill and Beckham gain an overview of the Collection seeing the highlights on display.
From Henry VII to Elizabeth I discover how some of the most powerful and privileged people of sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain shaped the nation. Explore the court of Tudor England with insights into the Royal family and their advisors and take the time to admire some of the Gallery’s most famous portraits.
The Stuart dynasty was a time of great drama with executions, fires and treacherous plots. Looking at Britain between James I and Charles II find out more about not just royalty but also innovators, writers and statesmen such as Wren, Newton, Pepys and Cromwell.
Explore the movers and shakers in Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and be immersed in the intellectual, scientific, and cultural milieu. At the core of the enlightenment was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals, and the rise of rationality and science.
Man, machine and empire – explore the turbulence, energy, adventure and impact of the Victorian age on the world stage. From Queen Victoria to Charles Dickens and Mary Seacole, meet the personalities who helped shape modern Britain.
The First World War saw the shattering of the old world order and the creation of a modern world. Writers such as Virginia Woolf and members of the Bloomsbury Group responded to this with new forms of literature, while Emmeline Pankhurst campaigned for women’s suffrage and Winston Churchill se the path of his career. Fast forward to today and the contemporary collection’s representations of scientists, artists, politicians and performers, all captured by significant artists and reflecting the rich diversity of British culture.
This tour looks at some of our self portraits through the lens of art history. Exploring elements of artistic technique you will take a closer look at the self- portraits by artists as diverse as Gainsborough, Hogarth, Hambling and Hamilton. Find out if these paintings reveal anything of the artist’s life and personality through a close examination of painterly practice.
The photography collection dates from the 1840s to the present day. Portrait photography is a fundamental part of the Gallery’s Collection and displays change frequently to showcase personalities and photographers. This tour surveys the range of photography on display at the time of your visit.
To have a bespoke tour of the Gallery, contact our booking team to discuss your specialist subject and arrange a bespoke tour on an agreed subject with our subject specialists.
Gain further insight into the Gallery’s major exhibitions with an illustrated lecture by a specialist on the exhibitions Lucian Freud Portraits or The Queen: Art & Image. The talk will be in the Ondaatje Wing Lecture Theatre with a timed ticket to explore the exhibition with the group.
9 February - 27 May 2012
Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011) was one of the greatest artists of the past sixty years. Paintings of people were central to his work and this major exhibition will be the first to focus on his portraiture.
The exhibition will concentrate on particular periods, groups of sitters and formal considerations to demonstrate Freud’s stylistic development and technical virtuosity. Insightful paintings of the artist’s lovers, friends and family, referred to by the artist as ‘people in my life’, have been selected to demonstrate the psychological drama and unrelenting observational intensity of his work.
17 May – 21 October 2012
To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this exhibition celebrates and explores the wide range of artistic creativity and media-derived imagery that the Queen has inspired from formal painted portraits and official photographs, to press images and works by contemporary artists. Artists include Pietro Annigoni, Cecil Beaton, Lord Lichfield, Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud and Gerhard Richter.
Group tours and talks are available for cultural, educational and membership organisations Monday – Friday 10.30 – 16.00 subject to availability. Please contact Learning Services on 020 7312 2483 (Text Direct: 18001) or email education@npg.org.uk to discuss your requirements and to make payment. We recommend booking at least 2 months in advance.
