National Portrait Gallery Reviews

Nice exhibition visited by Michael Jackson Children were free

One of London's best galleries.
Gainsborough portraits is one of the best I've seen .

Very interesting, once you've been once you don't need to go again

Fantastic gallery, such an enormous collection of portraits, and so many differing styles. Modern portaits as well as historical ones. Particularly enjoyed the Cindy Sherman exhibition which opened today. Lovely calm feel to the gallery, not overcrowded. Just a shame it closes at 6pm, would have been good to have been able to spend more of the evening here.

Each painting is carefully designed and decorated. Once you enter the door, you can take the escalator directly to the third floor. Each floor has portraits and introductions of legendary figures. It is free and open daily. You can see many teachers visiting and explaining.

Amazing selection of portraits. They also had live music in one of the halls, it was a very nice touch.

One of those venues that is loved by the tourist, but forgotten by its own people.

Given as a gift to the people in the mid 1800s this venue is phenomenally spacious, with a little bit of something for everyone. From modern art to period art, looking back upon the tudors before and after, through victorians and beyond. Lots of highly recognised works of art sit within its walls.

I wish I knew what I was looking at. I wouldn't recognize a good painting if it jumped up and bit my bum. However, there were many pictures there I wouldn't hang in my toilet.

I was so surprised just how much we enjoyed the experience not what we expected to do on our visit to london just to look around but well worth it

Superb in every sense. Late opening on Thurs and a lovely chilled vibe. Whether you see the permanent collection displaying British History or an exhibition, you will not be disappointed!

Great but dont bother with the Michael Jackson exhibition which is truly rubbish. I took one of my Michael fan kids and he thought it was "Complete toss dad". I'm not such a big Michael fan and would have used a stronger, more pithy description; dire.

Cool paintings and photographs of famous characters

Love to pop into this gallery whenever I'm in the area. It's free and has loads to look at. The restaurant on the top floor is well worth a visit as well.

What a fantastic place! So peaceful and pretty. Loved every bit

The place to see the originals of all those iconic images that shape our perceptions of so many historical figures. A wonderful collection. Of particular interest (to me) are all the Tudor portraits and the Victorian and early 20th century collections. A fantastic day out.

The National Portrait Gallery is closed until Spring 2023 for refurbishments. We got in just before. It's a treasure trove of British portraits, historical and contemporary.

Fantastic gallery in central london showing exhibitions from significant artists. Worth a visit and great shop.

Visit this free museums if you would like to understand more about history and put a face to Royal names.

Love it, Went for the night visit with my first daughters and one of them is into art and staff,
We all enjoyed our self with a short quite dance along the corridor,
The place was Amazing, Clean, Quite, you can draw, info search, pictures taking,....
The drink table had a young man serving but oh no only alcohol drink, eeeh what about us no- alcohol people, Please National Portrait Gallery put us on the drink lists,
Will be back.

Be Kind to One Another:-)

A gallery with a rich collection of magnificent paintings that fill your eyes. Preserved and restored very well. Staff helpful, attentive and kind. Despite having rooms closed for "work in progress" the dipindi were visible because they were moved. Magnificent book shops with many items to buy.
A visit not to be missed. I recommend the audio guide

It is huge and very beautiful and with a lot of history inside.

Absolutely beautiful and highly interesting. And entrance is free, which is unusual when it comes to visit a place of interest in the UK.

National Portrait Gallery
Brilliant

I recommend going to the restaurant and enjoying an English tea with a breathtaking view

You'll know about someone at this gallery. From history to present day.

Walked in and wished I'd had more time there. That said really loved the many portraits of a vast amount of well known and not so well known people, particularly enjoyed the modern images. Will return for a longer visit

Comprehensive collection of historical and current portraits, well captioned.

The audio tour is amazing. Everyone who visit London should go to this museum to take a look in the history of Great Britain!

'Only Human' by Martin Parr was quirky, witty and brilliantly-observed. A raucous riot of vivid colour and gentle social satire. We loved it!

The gallery has a huge collection of paintings from different ages. There is a JMW Turner painting which was chosen the best britain painting from all times (The Fighting Temeraire, 1839). Also worth the view two paintings by Camille Pissaro (The Louvre under snow, 1902, and The Boulevard Montmaitre at night, 1897).

Superb visit. Free of charge, well worth your time for an afternoon to admire all the superb art work

Come with open mind and this place will leave you with millions of creative thoughts.

Best portrait collections in the world.

Pretty sick. My great Great Great Great Great Great Uncle would be proud to have a picture of his here.

I enjoyed the Pre Raphaelite Women exhibition but it was very crowded.

Great little museum with some fantastic exhibitions on from time to time. The staff are always friendly.

Outstanding collection full of historical significance.

For me, the National Portrait Gallery is largely overlooked by the National Gallery next door - and because I'm not a massive fan of portraits. But if you are, it's full of them, and you're bound to find some stand out paintings from across the ages.

Well located, so just pop in and have a wander.

Very interesting, huge place, lots to see. Gets a bit samey after a while, if you have been to other galleries.

Incredible, original paintings from historical times.

All was going well until we went into the cafe for an Orange Juice each. Then when we handed over 10 pounds as payment the docket was produced showing a 2 pound "donation" that we had not offered AND no other change was given. He just put our 10 pound note in the till and turned his back on us.
Talk about snobby ripoff attitude.

Great place to wonder around. Loved the tidbits of information on the sitters.

Massive display of historic and contemporary portraiture. Too much to take in during one visit. Probably best to select an area of interest and visit that/those galleries.
This museum often runs specialist exhibitions for limited periods of time so worth checking the program for special events.
Disability access provided with lift. Good cafe in basement with reasonable prices and excellent restaurant on the top floor qith modern European restaurant with lovely food, views over the roof tops and at reasonable prices.
Free entry to museum but some specialist exhibitions attract an entry fee.
Why have I only given this place 4 stars. Hmmm. Difficult question to answer. I'm not entirely sure. I think it's about the feel of the place. It feels quite formal and traditional even though a lot of the exhibits are contemporary. I think it could do with becoming a little more modern and interactive with a wider appeal.

The works of different ages not only reflect the painting techniques of the time, but also express the literary style of British

Beautiful are and a great visit to see a broad range of art

Monets water Lily's.....magnificent what else can you say

i went to this gallery a number of years ago with school. I would have described my interest in paintings as a 10 year old heading there as nil. however i could not fail to be blown away by the range of fantastic paintings and on a return trip since i have come to adore the history behind all these, which was originally lost on me.

It's free and has a stunning array of art history. So much to see you can pop in plenty of times and see something you've missed.

The museum is well-done and some of the artwork is fantastic. For example, seek out the portrait of William Shakespeare which is the oldest portrait in the museum's collection. This museum has many, many (and even more many) portraits.

The museum is delightfully free of charge.

I'm rating it just four stars because they constantly advertise for tourists to come to the National Portrait Gallery, to see portraits of everyone they know. The cold cruel fact is that most foreign tourists will have no earthly idea who most of the portraits are. If you're from the U.K. or a student of their history, you'll know many (but still not even most) of the people depicted. This paragraph comments only on the fact that the advertisements show a few well-known people and promise even more, when in actual fact you are likely to know ONLY the people whose portraits are in the advertisements.

Definitely go to the National Gallery just around the corner. If you've seen most of the National Gallery and you find yourself saying "I wish I could look at more paintings", then you'll want to go to the National Portrait Gallery also.

Great exhibition, clean building and smiley staff. Lost stars due to pricing signs being a bit misleading. It states that consessions is at a reduced price for ticketed exhibitions. However the lady we spoke at the desk said that this didn't exist anymore and did not honour the price. Even though the reduced price with word consessions was written write behind her.

Very interesting and helpful exhibits. Building was hot inside which can't be good for the priceless art.

Pre-Raphaelite Women is finished now but was a well laid out and very interesting exhibition