Pictures Pictures Everywhere (National Portrait Gallery (London))

Member Name: AJ26

Product:	National Portrait Gallery (London)
Date:	11/02/09 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Portraits from through the ages, interesting history, free entry

Disadvantages: If you don't like art you might not enjoy it!

The National Portrait Gallery is located on St. Martin's Place in central London and is found close to the National Gallery. It is only a few minutes walk from Leicester Square. The gallery houses over 1000 portraits of men and women from the Middle Ages right up to the present day.

The museum is fairly easy to navigate and you can pick up a free map as you enter the museum which will assist you to find your way around. The rooms are also well signposted and there are lots of gallery attendants who will be able to assist you as you walk around. For a very reasonable £2 you can also get an audio guide which gives you commentaries as walk around. It also has a very clever feature that allows you to put in the number of a particular painting that you have found that is interesting and the audio guide will then give you the information on that painting.

The gallery is open daily from 10am until 6pm with the last admission at 5.50pm. On Thursdays and Fridays it is late night opening and the gallery is open until 9pm.

The gallery is spread out over 6 floors although the actual collections are housed in the ground, first and second floors. The gallery suggests that you start your visit on the second floor as this allows you to view the collection in a chronological order.

We therefore entered the gallery and made our way through the bright airy entrance up the escalator to the second floor. Here the collection begins with The Tudors. For both my husband and I this was the collection we were most interested in. My husband has a real interest in the Tudors and has read many books and we have both watched The Tudors series on television and The Other Boleyn Girl film. We were not disappointed and there are some really beautiful paintings.

Also on the second floor are portraits from the 17th century, 18th century and the 19th century. Many of the people I had not heard of but there are information cards next to the paintings telling you who they are and why they are of interest.

Down onto the first floor you begin with The Victorians and Queen Victoria herself then leading on to the early 20th century including the first world war and on into the late 20th century.

Carrying on down onto the ground floor are the more recent collections from 1990 onwards and the special exhibition which is only accessible via ticket which you have to pay for. When we visited the exhibition was Annie Leibovitz - A photographers life, 1990-2005 although this was due to close on the 1st February 2009.

The gallery is well equipped for facilities there are toilets on the ground floor, lower ground floor and the Top Floor. There are lifts for those with wheelchairs or pushchairs. There is also a baby changing room on the lower ground floor. If you are looking for somewhere to eat there is a café and a restaurant. We didn't visit these so I can't comment on what they are like.

I liked this gallery it's a nice place just to spend some time browsing around. The fact that admission is free means that you don't feel you have to see everything all in one go. We visited here briefly last year and came again this year for a better look around. There are of course plenty of opportunities to leave a donation which is a much better way of doing things as you don't feel you have to get your moneys worth in one go. There are plenty of seats around the place so you can just sit down and look at the paintings. Children might get a little bored after a while but they have tried to make it interesting by having special children's information points and little puzzles and quizzes. Personally I preferred the National Gallery to the Portrait Gallery perhaps because I enjoyed looking at some of the more famous paintings and painters that I had heard of. However it's a nice gallery to have a browse around or if you are really into your art it will be a place that you will quite easily spend a lot of time in.

Summary: The National Portrait Gallery in London an interesting art gallery with free entry.