Events and exhibitions calendar

Find out what's on in our current and upcoming exhibitions, displays, events, programmes, workshops and more.

Events (40)

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

11 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: David Bowie by Stephen Finer

Portrait of the day: David Bowie by Stephen Finer

11 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Learn more about this portrait of David Bowie by Stephen Finer.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

11 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

12 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: Allan Ramsay

Portrait of the day: Allan Ramsay

12 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Learn more about this self-portrait by Allan Ramsay.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

12 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

13 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: Sir Joshua Reynolds

Portrait of the day: Sir Joshua Reynolds

13 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Learn more about this self-portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

13 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

14 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: Dorothy Hodgkin

Portrait of the day: Dorothy Hodgkin

14 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Learn more about this portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin by Maggi Hambling.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

14 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

15 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: Gluck

Portrait of the day: Gluck

15 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Discover more about this self-portrait by Gluck.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

15 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Drop-in drawing

Drop-in drawing

  • Adult Programmes

15 December 2023, 18.00-20.00
Room 24, Floor 2
Free

Create your own work in the Gallery in this artist-led workshop.

Paint and pigment: how to conserve a Tudor portrait

Paint and pigment: how to conserve a Tudor portrait

  • Members

15 December 2023, 19.00-20.00
The Law Photography Studio
£15 (Members only)

Join conservator Polly Saltmarsh for a talk revealing the processes behind her conservation of some of the Gallery’s most prized Tudor portraits.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

16 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day: Queen Henrietta Maria

Portrait of the day: Queen Henrietta Maria

16 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

Learn more about this portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria by an unknown artist.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

16 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Highlights tour

Highlights tour

17 December 2023, 11.00-11.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Step back through time with a free highlights tour exploring our Collection and building.

Portrait of the day

Portrait of the day

17 December 2023, 12.30-13.00
Meet on Floor 0, historic stairs landing
Free (drop in – spaces limited)

A talk on a chosen portrait in the Gallery's Collection.

Trailblazers Black History tour

Trailblazers Black History tour

17 December 2023, 15.00-15.45
Meet on Floor 3, Room 18
Free (drop in – spaces limited) 

Discover key Black figures from the Gallery's Collection.

New Year’s Eve at the Gallery

New Year’s Eve at the Gallery

31 December 2023 - 1 January 2024, 12.00-01.30

Ring in the New Year with unique dining experiences at the National Portrait Gallery

Members' Late - David Hockney: Drawing from Life and Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 23

Members' Late - David Hockney: Drawing from Life and Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 23

  • Members

9 January 2024, 18.30-20.30
Exhibition spaces
Free for Members

Join us for a Members’ Late to view David Hockney: Drawing from Life and Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2023

Curator’s introduction to the Collection

Curator’s introduction to the Collection

  • Members

11 January 2024, 13.00-14.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre / Online livestream
Onsite £15
Online £8 (Members only)

Lecture with Rosie Broadley, Senior Curator 20th Century Collections.

Smartphone photography portrait workshop: how to capture your friends and family

Smartphone photography portrait workshop: how to capture your friends and family

  • Adult Programmes

12 January 2024, 18.00-20.00
The Law Photography Studio
£70 (£56 Members / concessions)

A two-hour workshop inspired by the themes of this year’s Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, uncovering the secrets of taking better portraits on your smartphone.


Little Explorers

Little Explorers

  • Family

17 January 2024, 11.00-12.30
Learning Centre Floor -2, Photography Studio
Free, booking required

Join our free monthly session for Under 5s. Explore the gallery and the collection with your family through stories, songs and making activities.

Conversations with the past: Hockney and the old masters with Isabel Seligman

Conversations with the past: Hockney and the old masters with Isabel Seligman

  • Adult Programmes

18 January 2024, 13.00-14.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
£10 (£8 Members / concessions)

This talk will examine the impact that historic artists have had on Hockney’s graphic portraits, particularly the work of Rembrandt, Ingres and Picasso

Evening life drawing

Evening life drawing

  • Adult Programmes

19 January 2024, 18.00-20.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
£20 (£16 Members / concessions)

Led by a figurative artist, join our monthly evening life drawing class held in the Ondaatje Wing Lecture Theatre.

The geography of the face: self-portraiture in a range of media

The geography of the face: self-portraiture in a range of media

  • Adult Programmes

20 January - 21 January 2024, 11.00-17.00
The Art Studio
£250 (£200 Members / concessions)

Develop your self-portraiture skills with Portrait prize-winning artist, Charlie Schaffer, in this two-day workshop inspired by our exhibition, David Hockney: Drawing from Life.

Scotland’s national poet: celebrating Robert Burns

Scotland’s national poet: celebrating Robert Burns

  • Adult Programmes

25 January 2024, 14.30-15.00
Floor 3, Room 3
Free

In celebration of Burns Night join this free Gallery talk inspired by the life, work and legacy of poet Robert Burns

Drop-in drawing

Drop-in drawing

  • Adult Programmes

26 January 2024, 18.00-20.00
Floor 3, Room 18
Free

Led by artist Alison Kusner, create your own work in the Gallery and be inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits

Philippa Gregory in conversation with Dan Jones

Philippa Gregory in conversation with Dan Jones

  • Adult Programmes

26 January 2024, 19.00-20.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre / Online livestream
Onsite £15 (£12 Members / concessions)
Online £8 (£6 Members / concessions)

Lecture from celebrated novelist Philippa Gregory, introducing her new book, Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History

Painting Workshop: Portraits of our Elders

Painting Workshop: Portraits of our Elders

  • Adult Programmes

27 January - 28 January 2024, 11.00-17.00
The Law Photography Studio
£250 (£200 Members / concessions)

Join Windrush 75: Portraits of a Pioneering Generation portraitist Shannon Bono to learn how to capture portraits of your own elders in this workshop.

Members' Afternoon Preview - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

Members' Afternoon Preview - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

  • Members

21 February 2024, 14.00-17.00
Exhibition space
Booking opens 16 January 2024

Join us for an extended in person Members’ Afternoon preview of the exhibition, The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure.

In conversation with Hassan Hajjaj and Rose Issa

In conversation with Hassan Hajjaj and Rose Issa

  • Adult Programmes

23 February 2024, 19.00-20.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre / Online livestream
Onsite £15 (£12 Members / concessions)
Online £8 (£6 Members / concessions)

Join Rose Issa in conversation with this year’s In Focus Photographer for the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, Hassan Hajjaj.

Members' Afternoon Preview - Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

Members' Afternoon Preview - Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

  • Members

20 March 2024, 14.00-17.00
Exhibition space
Booking opens 15 February 2024

Join us for an extended in person Members’ Afternoon preview of the exhibition Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In.

Members' Early Morning View - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

Members' Early Morning View - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

  • Members

15 April 2024, 08.30-10.00
Exhibition space
Booking opens 7 March 2024

Join us for a Members' Early Morning View of The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

Members' Late - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

Members' Late - The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

  • Members

7 May 2024, 18.30-20.30
Exhibition spaces
Booking opens 25 March 2024

Join us for a Members’ Late to view The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure and Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In