What’s on

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Explore what's on in our events and exhibitions calendar

Exhibitions and events calendar

Open daily: 10.30 – 18.00
Friday & Saturday: 10.30 – 21.00

Featured events

Drop-in drawing

Adult, Evening, Workshop

Fri, 3 May 2024, 18.00-20.00
In Gallery
Free

Colour photo of a man wearing a dark suit standing in a room with a green carpet and furniture; behind him two large portraits hang on the wall

Ekow Eshun in Conversation with Dorothy Price

Adult, Evening, Talks and conversations

Fri, 3 May 2024, 19.00-20.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Onsite £15 (£12 Members / concessions)
Online livestream cancelled

Lunchtime Lecture - Sarah Siddons: the first celebrity actress

Adult, Daytime, Talks and conversations

Thu, 9 May 2024, 13.00-14.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
£10 (£8 Members / concessions)

Weekend workshop: Introduction to figurative painting

Adult, Daytime, Workshop

11 - 12 May 2024, 11.00-17.00
The Art Studio
£250 (£200 Members / concessions)

Film screening: The Watermelon Woman

Adult, Daytime, Film screening

Sat, 11 May 2024, 14.00-16.00
The Ondaatje Wing Theatre
Free (booking required)

‘The Time is Always Now’ – meet the makers

Adult, Daytime

13 - 19 May 2024
National Portrait Gallery Shop
Free

See all events

Exhibitions

A visitor stands looking at a painting closely cropped on a woman standing at a diagonal, with a background of abstract geometric shapes and African masks and statues

The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure

22 February - 19 May 2024
Floor 0
£16.00 / £18.00 with donation

Explore the Black figure in Western art history with contemporary artists from the African diaspora, curated by Ekow Eshun

Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

21 March - 16 June 2024
Floor 2
£8.50 / £9.50 with donation

Experience the creative and imaginative portraiture of influential photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron, spanning over a century

Six Lives

20 June - 8 September 2024

£21 / £23.50 with donation

Historic paintings by Hans Holbein and contemporary photography by Hiroshi Sugimoto meet in our first exhibition of historic portraiture since reopening

Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024

11 July - 27 October 2024

Free to visit

The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award returns to the National Portrait Gallery, showcasing the very best in contemporary portraiture

Francis Bacon Portraits

10 October 2024 - 19 January 2025

Tickets not yet on sale

Featuring works from the 1950s onwards, this exhibition will explore Francis Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture

Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024

14 November 2024 - 16 February 2025

Tickets not yet on sale

Showcasing the work of talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals, the Prize features the very best of contemporary photography

Free displays

Colin Davidson: Silent Testimony

22 April 2024 - 23 February 2025
Room 14, Floor 3
Free

Featuring 18 large-scale portraits, Silent Testimony is a display by Belfast-born artist Colin Davidson

Colour photo of a man in red overalls seated in front of a red curtain

People Powered: stories from film and screen

29 April - 30 June 2024
Studio Gallery, Floor -2
Free

This display invites visitors to discover new portraits, archive material and oral histories that go behind the scenes at Ilford Film and Elstree Studios…

Online exhibitions

One Life

To coincide with the release of the film One Life, we have teamed up with Warner Bros. Pictures to spotlight new portraits of 11 people who, as children, travelled on the Czech Kindertransport, organised by Nicholas Winton and others

Portrait of a Top Boy

We teamed up with Netflix to mark the final season of Top Boy. Featuring portraits of the iconic cast of characters by 16 established and emerging UK-based artists, this online display, curated by multi-disciplinary artist Ronan McKenzie, celebrates the show’s lasting impact on our cultural industries.

Hold Still

Spearheaded by the Princess of Wales, Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, Hold Still was an ambitious community project to create a unique collective portrait of the UK during Covid-19 lockdown.