National Portrait Gallery Reviews

What can I say ... It contains breathtaking wonders

Free, with some paid exhibitions, this is a great spot

Very hysterical and beautiful. Very Recommended it is free.

Wonderful exhibition; the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood.

Free entrance. The museum has a very special collection to be seen. You can see significiant scientists, writers, queens and kings portraits.

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery. It has been expanded twice since.

Fantastic range from paintings through photos with fantastic exhibitions on a wide range of subjects. I loved the Vogue @ 100 exhibition

The tea in the basement cafe is excellent, as is the service. The gallery is a MUST when you're in London. Portraits span from 1400s to present day.

Awesome place really interesting and the most important thing it's that it's free

I've been there twice in the last two years. Not to be missed on any UK visit! I love Richard III.

Awesome paintings. Spring for the audio guide. It made a world of difference in us enjoying the time. We used our own wired ear buds so to of us could listen at the same time.

Impressive historical journey through the Kingdom, through all the many figures who forged his personality and influenced the whole world.

Wonderful annual competition, free entry with donations suggested. Well worth the visit.

Great free art gallery/museum that focuses on portraits. Check for late opening times and go for a couple of hours after work.

Interesting artworks, and deep in depth exhibits, with it split into time eras

Some fascinating portraits. Definitely worth a trip.

Magnificent venue, in one of the most vibrant capitals of the world. Modern, classic and totally inspirational in a monumental building!

I love visiting this gallery. Never enough time before my husband drags me away from here.

Located on Trafalgar Square the National portrait Gallery is a great place to met people and to see some world renowned artwork. It could only be improved with an audio guide or smart phone interaction to provide more information about the paintings but it is free and as a free resource it is worth recommending

Tourist Hell: All the art is online so why people go there to take photos is beyond me. It is very difficult to pause and reflect on the great art inside. Overall a frustrating experience.

Don't like it
Face portraits

First time going here for me and I liked it. It was not busy at all inside. Plenty of paintings I had never seen before, and I could visit at my own pace

Top rate for viewing as the experience is always with the visit plus the cafe is good too.

Time required about 4 hours, free entry.
Impressive collection of portraits of important English personalities. U.a. in the first room Tudor portraits with a good, short summary of each person's career. Then the story of the Stewarts up to the modern age.
Be sure to look at the Shakespeare portrait, probably the only one that shows his real face.

Excellent gallery mainly focusing on portratins and photographies.

More than 1,000 portraits of famous Englishmen from the time of the Tudors to the present, in Central London and free admission

It's always great to pop into this gallery. You can spend a cheeky 10 minutes during lunch or much longer. Worth a visit at any time of year.

Arte.se found large sample of sunflowers gogh Devan. There are works by Rembrandt and Goya among others. Also free access, you can leave a donation. (Access bathrooms) is wide and very interesting to tour.

This place is really great ! As a huge fan of American history I went there last week to check out the Indian portraits collection by George Catlin. Really beautiful art, I'm amazed and do you know what is the best ? There is no admission fee.

The once renowned BP Portrait exhibition seems to have been relegated this year to a very small gallery. The arrangement of this year's exhibits was really poor. Having been for the last ten years definitely time to call it a day.

Extremely interesting to understand a little more about English history.

An amazing and history rich gallery to explore, plus it s a free gallery. Definitely worthwhile for tourists to explore the different galleries!

We didn't have enough time to get all the way round. In fact we only did part of the first floor, but we really enjoyed looking at the variety of portraits on display. There were historical faces, royalty, pop stars, important people in history. It was quite busy, yet you had time and space to move around. Definitly worth a visit, make sure you give it more time than we did. I would visit again.

Would hsve been 5 but the "Sunflowers " is out on loan.

Impressive the one of works of art that it has. And above is free.5 stars!

What a fantastic experience. I for one am going to really miss this place whilst the refurbishment takes place

A bit of a middle. Tricky to find your way around. Too many cafes and gift shops but what a treasure box!

A wealth of British history thru portraits of the kings and queens and other well known Brits. A must see especially for history buffs!!

Always brilliant. This time we visited the exhibition of Tudor miniaturists.

On Friday nights you used to be able to buy a drink and walk around the galleries with it - now you have to stay in the lobby. What's the point of being in the gallery?!

What a gem. I love the photography section. The friday late is the perfect time to swing by after work.

Love the Sorella exhibition and the rest of the gallery

If you love English history or just want to view some of the most beautiful works by the worlds best portrait artists then you must visit here. Famous faces abound and are set out in rooms and floors that take you through the ages. Entry is FREE though a donation is welcomed. Gallery closes around 6pm but has a late night Friday.
Only a stone's throw from Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, which features 100s of paintings from landscapes to battles to religious art works and is also FREE to enter. Have an Art-Day and visit both!

The National Portrait Gallery is one of the most underrated galleries in London. Do yourself a favour and don't simply tag it on to a visit to the National Gallery. Definitely worth a visit in its own right.

I've been there before but nice place to go when having a spare time. I had few hours gap till next meeting and I popped into the museum. Fascinating paintings history behind them. Some familiar faces and some not very but it was educational.

Very nice portrait gallery if you like this genre. Expensive. To do if you have time

Another on of London's free of charge museums and equally as important as any of them. Large and spacious building stuffed full of incredible paintings and busts of dignitaries, monarch and famous faces. Informative descriptions on all works so it's fun to read about the artist and why they chose the commission. Plus (chargeable) special events on throughout the year so there's always something new to see. Highly recommended.

Saw the Michael Jackson exhibition, nice to read about his life and view timeline with amazing pictures and artwork. RIP MJ

To visit in several times. To follow the history of religions through the paintings

World class. This collection is fantastic and makes much more sense now that the hanging is chronological. Enough here for all the family, except the very young.

Highly recommended you can also go to draw portraits in the afternoon

I expected more about this place but still nice to visit as it's free ;)

Always a must for history fans as well as budding artists free to visit which is a bonus

Pretty good, lots of paintings of deceased royalty with oodles of historical information regarding their affairs, conquests, exploits etc. There was also a section devoted to the Suffragettes that I perused that displayed photos, newspaper cuttings and texts about prominent campaigners of the movement.

What can I say. Some of the best works of art in the world are here.

There are so many historical portrait in this gallery that I can't believe everything I saw in the movie is just right in front of me. There is also a cafe and a book store in where people can explore and hang around while need a break for the gallery. The best things here it's we visiting this portrait gallery are free and they encourage us to learn about the history of England.