Groups

You can book to visit the Gallery as a self-led group.

Please follow our group guidelines in the document below to arrange your visit.

Download the group guidelines

You can book groups up to ten people through the link below, or call our Contact Centre on 020 7306 0055 for larger groups.

Book Gallery free entry

Book for exhibitions:
To book group tickets for our exhibitions, please call our Contact Centre on 020 7306 0055.

Please contact us for more information:
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7306 0055 (lines open 10.00-18.00 Monday to Sunday)

We welcome groups to the National Portrait Gallery and offer an exclusive, expert-led programme of specialist tours that enable your group to see the treasures of the Gallery and enjoy a rich and engaging experience. Learn more about British history and art with expert historians and artists who will lead your group around our new building, providing behind-the-scenes insights. Our Group Tours programme includes Gallery Tours and Exhibition Lectures. If you are interested in bringing your group to visit the Gallery and would like to book a tour, do not hesitate to contact us either at [email protected] or by calling 020 7306 0055.

Group Tour: Highlights of the National Portrait Gallery

Whether visiting for the first or fiftieth time, learn more about the National Portrait Gallery and the works in our Collection with an expert guide, as they lead you through galleries that span six centuries of portraiture. From global icons to local champions, national treasures to unsung heroes, hear stories and behind-the-scenes details about the sitters who feature in the world’s largest collection of portraits.

Weekdays, 11.00-16.00
£22 per person
1 hour

Exhibition and Lecture: David Hockney: Drawing from Life

Enrich your visit to our exhibition David Hockney: Drawing from Life with an informative and lively lecture about Britain’s greatest living artist.

Exclusively for your group, this lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to the exhibition, followed by the opportunity to spend as long as you wish in the exhibition itself.

The exhibition explores David Hockney and his work over the last six decades through his intimate portraits of five sitters: his mother, Laura Hockney; his friend and British textile designer, Celia Birtwell; his former partner and curator, Gregory Evans; his master printer, Maurice Payne; and the artist himself. His familiarity with the sitters enables him to work with a range of mediums and styles, from pencil, pen and ink and crayon, to photographic collage and the iPad. The exhibition also debuts a selection of over thirty new portraits. Painted from life they depict friends and visitors to the artist’s Normandy studio between 2021 and 2022. Enjoy the opportunity to ask questions and explore Hockney’s work.

The price per person includes lecture and an exhibition ticket.

2 November 2023 - 21 January 2024
Weekdays, 11.00-16.00
£39 per person exhibition lecture and exhibition ticket
1 hour lecture then time to visit the exhibition

Exhibition and Lecture: Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2023

Exclusively for your group, this lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to the exhibition, followed by the opportunity to spend as long as you wish in the exhibition itself.

Discover more about contemporary photography and the international photographers featured in the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2023 exhibition, our annual, international photography competition. Showcasing talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals, the exhibition celebrates a diverse range of images and tells the fascinating stories behind the creation of the works. The selected images, many of which are on display for the first time, explore both traditional and contemporary approaches to the photographic portrait whilst capturing a range of characters, moods and locations.

The price per person includes lecture and exhibition ticket.

9 November 2023 - 25 February 2024
Weekdays, 11.00-16.00
£29 per person exhibition lecture and exhibition ticket 
1 hour lecture then time to visit the exhibition

Exhibition and Lecture: The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

Exclusively for your group, this lecture, provides a comprehensive introduction to The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure exhibition, followed by the opportunity to spend as long as you wish in the exhibition itself.

A major study of the Black figure – and its representation in contemporary art.

The exhibition, curated by Ekow Eshun (former Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts) showcases the work of contemporary artists from the African diaspora, including Michael Armitage, Lubaina Himid, Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Amy Sherald, and highlights the use of figures to illuminate the richness and complexity of Black life. As well as surveying the presence of the Black figure in Western art history, we examine its absence – and the story of representation told through these works, as well as the social, psychological and cultural contexts in which they were produced.

The price per person includes lecture and exhibition ticket.

22 February - 19 May 2024
Weekdays, 11.00-16.00
Tickets on sale soon – exhibition lecture and exhibition ticket
1 hour lecture then time to visit the exhibition

Exhibition and Lecture: Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron Portraits to Dream In

Exclusively for your group, this lecture, provides a comprehensive introduction to the Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron Portraits to Dream In exhibition, followed by the opportunity to spend as long as you wish in the exhibition itself.

Photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. They lived a century apart – Cameron working in the UK and Sri Lanka from the 1860s, and Woodman in America and Italy from the 1970s. Both women explored portraiture beyond its ability to record appearance – using their own creativity and imagination to suggest notions of beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling. Showcasing more than 150 rare vintage prints, Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In spans the career of both artists – and suggests new ways to look at their work, and the way photographic portraiture was created in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The price per person includes lecture and exhibition ticket.

21 March - 16 June 2024
Tickets on sale soon – exhibition lecture and exhibition ticket
1 hour lecture then time to visit the exhibition

Terms and conditions

Highlights Tour

Please note, there is a minimum notice period of one month when booking a tour. Maximum group size is 30 people; we can accommodate larger groups with a talk in our lecture theatre and self-guided visit to the gallery. The minimum cost for any group is £225. If less than 28 days’ notice is given, a fee of 50% of the total cost applies for cancellation or non-attendance. Up to 28 days in advance, you may cancel or change the date of your visit with no charge. We require payment upfront for any group tours bookings. To ensure we can fulfil your requirements, we recommend booking as early as possible.

Exhibition Visit and Lecture

Please note, there is a minimum notice period of one month when booking an exhibition group visit and lecture. Maximum group size is 30 people with staggered exhibition entry; larger groups will need to book separate slots. Groups of under 10 people can book, but the group discount does not apply. Up to 28 days in advance, you may cancel or change the date of your visit with no charge. If less than 28 days’ notice is given, a fee of 50% of the total cost applies for cancellation or non-attendance. We require payment upfront for any group bookings. To ensure we can fulfil your requirements, we recommend booking as early as possible.

The Gallery has no car-parking facilities.

• Blue badge parking is available on Charing Cross Road.
• A public car park is 195 metres from the Orange Street entrance on the corner of Whitcomb Street and Orange Street.
• Coach set down and pick up between the Gallery entrances on Charing Cross Road.
• Taxi set down and pick up by between the Gallery entrances on Charing Cross Road.

Further information can be found on our Visit page.