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The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. Search over 215,000 works, 150,000 of which are illustrated from the 16th Century to the present day.

Group Visits

Group Visits

Group Visits

Find out how to book a private tour or lecture

We offer a wider range of tours to meet your group’s requirements. Whether your group has a special area of interest, wishes to explore an exhibition or take a highlights tour of the Collection.

Book now

For information on school group visits please see our schools and colleges section.

Download the latest Group Tours leaflet below:

Group Tours leaflet

Bespoke and Specialist Tours

Explore the diversity of the Gallery’s Collection and our specialist display programme through a tailored tour and enjoy an in-depth look at your group’s specific interest or one of our changing displays.


  • £22 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour

Exhibition Lectures

BP Portrait Award 2019

13 June – 20 October 2019

An innovative selection of the very best in contemporary portrait painting from around the world.

  • £22 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour lecture followed by time to explore the exhibition

Elizabeth Peyton

27 June – 15 September 2019

This exhibition will look at the evolution of Peyton's practice, exploring her unique aesthetic and her interrogation of human relationships through her portraits of historical figures and cultural icons.

  • £22 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour lecture followed by time to explore the exhibition

Pre-Raphaelite Sisters

17 October 2019 – 26 January 2020

Revealing the lives and stories of the young women behind the portraits, this major exhibition explores the creative contributions of twelve women who helped define the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

  • £30 per person (price includes exhibition entry)
  • Duration: 1 hour lecture followed by time to explore the exhibition

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

7 November 2019 – 16 February 2020

A unique opportunity to see new works by some of the world’s most exciting contemporary photographers.

  • £22 per person (price includes exhibition entry)
  • Duration: 1 hour lecture followed by time to explore the exhibition

David Hockney

27 February – 28 June 2020

The first major exhibition devoted to David Hockney’s drawings in over twenty years, David Hockney: Drawing from Life (27 February – 28 June 2020), will explore Hockney as a draughtsman from the 1950s to now, by focussing on his depictions of himself and a small group of sitters close to him.

  • £30 per person (price includes exhibition entry))
  • Duration: 1 hour lecture followed by time to explore the exhibition

Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things

12 March – 7 June 2020

This major new exhibition will explore the extravagant world of the glamorous and stylish ‘Bright Young Things’ of the twenties and thirties, seen through the eye of renowned British photographer Cecil Beaton.

Collection Tours

Highlights

Whether your group is visiting the Gallery for the first time or has an interest in British history, learn more about the Gallery and the Collection through a selection of portraits from the 1,000 on display.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Kings & Queens

A fascinating tour covering six centuries of British royalty beginning with King Henry VII and moving through some of the most powerful people who helped to shape the nation.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Tudors

From Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, learn how some of the most powerful and talented people of sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain shaped the nation.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Stuarts & the Civil War

Discover this most turbulent time in British history, which saw plots, revolution, the execution of a King and years of Civil War, the plague and the Great Fire of London.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Enlightenment to Reform

Journey back to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a golden age of science, music, theatre and thought, but also a time of reform and the birth of modern democracy.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

The Victorians

Discover more about the people who made Britain the world’s first industrialised commercial power and the empire that sustained it.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Victoria and the Arts

Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were great patrons of the arts. To commemorate the bicentenary of their births, as well as other notable figures including George Eliot and John Ruskin, discover more about some of the great writers and artists of the Victorian age.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Rebel Women

Discover the heroic stories of the women throughout history who have fought courageously and tirelessly for equality; to assert themselves as individuals and make their voices heard.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Contemporary Culture

Enjoy a tour of familiar faces created in a wide range of media, investigating issues of diversity, achievement and celebrity in today’s society.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

Portraiture

Investigate portraiture, identity and representation as you explore the Gallery’s finest portraits and self-portraits, examining artistic technique.


  • £18 per person
  • Duration: 1 hour talk

How to book

To discuss your group’s requirements and to book please call 020 7312 2483 or email [email protected].

A separate programme is available to UK and EU University groups. Corporate tours are only available to the Gallery’s Corporate Supporters, contact the Development Team on 020 7312 2431 or email [email protected]. We welcome self-guided groups to the Gallery but pre-booking is essential.

Group tours and lectures are available for cultural, educational and membership organisations Monday–Friday 10.30–16.00 subject to availability.

Groups larger than 30 people will begin their tour with an illustrated lecture in the Ondaatje Wing Theatre followed by time to explore the Collection. Groups smaller than 15 people will be charged a minimum fee.

To ensure we can fulfil your requirements we recommend booking as early as possible. A cancellation fee equal to 50% of the total fee is payable if less than 28 days notice of cancellation is given or if the group fail to attend on the day. Group Tours and Exhibition Lectures cannot be booked in conjunction with any other offers or discounts.

The Gallery’s exhibitions and displays change regularly and our team will respond to the current portraits on show. Where possible we recommend booking two months in advance.

Data Protection

The National Portrait Gallery is committed to protecting your privacy. All personal data provided will be held and processed securely by the Gallery in accordance with the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. It will only be used to administer your enquiry or booking in accordance with the Gallery’s public task; and will be retained by the Gallery for as long as is necessary to administer your enquiry or booking. Your personal data will not be passed to any third parties. For more information, please refer to the Gallery’s Privacy Notice.