The National Gallery Reviews

You can go everyday, nay live there and never get bored. Try an exercise from a history of art teacher: choose a painting and stay looking at it for three hours, if you want to have a notebook at hand. It is the opposite of flicking through at the speed of light, but worth it. Try with a painting to which you are mildly indifferent.

Took someone there in a wheelchair. Great place, great art, helpful staff went out of their way to help.

Wonderful visit and really enjoyed looking at the beautiful art on display. The day I visited was on Saturday and very busy on the upper levels. Down stairs was virtually no one and plenty of time to sit and really take in the experience. You may visit the Gallery at no cost however a donation is certainly worth It!!!

Here one can spend time amid a wealth of paintings. Being unhurried and so close to so many Great Masters is astonishing!

I love the paintings here but I think they could be displayed better.
I recently visited Mussee Dorsee in Paris and saw what can be done
All the attendants look asleep! and bored perhaps they could talk to the visitors

Amazimg! Placed on the wonderful Trafslgar square the Galery has a large collection of paintings of the most of genious painters all over the world. I spent there 4 hours but it's not enough to enjoy all . Have to visit and You will feel full of positive emotions and happy. If You love the culture leave for galery atleast 5 hours.

Loved the Sorolla exhibition - epic scale, stunning display of colour and light. Just a little disappointed husband had to wait outside as we had a small suitcase which cloakeoom wouldn't accommodate

Amazing gallery well organized don t forget to go to the very top and have a drink or lunch with a great view of the city

Visited the Sorolla exhibition. Fantastic. Lunched in the NG Dining room. Good day out.

So big and so much to see. One visit is not enough.

Great collection of images, portraits from Tudor times onwards. Charged exhibitions very expensive, but most of space is free / donations. Staff very helpful.

Amazing selection of artistic works completely free to enjoy. Can be quite a maze to navigate and get lost in, but well worth the visit.

Fantastic collection of world famous master paintings. And it is for free! I can definitely recommend it.

It's free and there are some fantastic works of art.

you have to love the free galleries in London. You can get within a couple of feet of a masterpiece. very busy at the weekend but that's to be expected. Friendly ,helpful staff. well worth a visit.

You could go everyday and always find something new to admire, to study, to contemplate, plan a trip when in London, it s a must.

One of the best and biggest art galleries of the world! The gallery moves from period to period beautifully showcasing the evolution in art over time; paintings are there from the 1300s to 2019. There are audio guides present as well for the solo art learners and admirers and guided tours of the gallery every now and then. The national gallery also hosts lates, as updated on their website, that allows people to stay in the gallery late in the evening to admire art alongside live music. A must visit spot if you are in London!

Purely subjective, found it a bit dull. The national portrait gallery next door was much better.

Magnificent paintings but so many tourists fighting to get passed us. Great coffee and cake

One of the iconic places to go while in Britain. Great display of art across many cultures.

Superb collection, and very helpful guides in every room.

Love this free museum on Trafalgar Square. When you are there make sure to take in the view from the top of the steps! You can see Big Ben! There is usually some fantastic special exhibit there. They have craft workshops for kids just go on their website to find out more info.

Free to get in (although a donation suggested) and a huge collection of well known artists (Monet, Constable et al). Well worth a look round and a good place to go if is raining. 5 minutes walk to Leicester Square and located at the top of Trafalgar Square. Can walk easily from Charing cross or Leicester Square stations in a few minutes.

Was in here for a couple hours and could have easily spent more time. There is such a wide variety of art, which will suit everyone s taste. Plus it s free!

You can spend whole day here if you are interested in traditional paintings.

Great experience, world class masterpieces, all for free. Must go

The place is huge and covers art from the 15th century to the early 20th century. Admission is free

Excellent gallery and one of the main attractions in London.

Large gallery, with famous paints, eg. Monett, Vincent, etc. Admission is free, but you can donate.

A lovely place for art lovers but not really easy to navigate through.

The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.

The Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the government on behalf of the British public, and entry to the main collection is free of charge. In 2019, it was ranked seventh in the world on the List of most visited art museums.



The present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the facade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, as the building has been expanded piecemeal throughout its history. Wilkins's building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space; the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897.

The Sainsbury Wing, a 1991 extension to the west by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, is a significant example of Postmodernist architecture in Britain. The current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi.

Excerpt from Wikipedia

It's an experience if you like your renaissance art etc what I have found tough on the 2 Times I have been there in my life time is that the layout of the place feels like your going in circles, could be helped by almost making a more rigid route to follow so you know for certain you have seen every piece. But it's technically free, I mean they do rely on your donations to help them to keep running and maintenance of the artwork so I would actively encourage that you do or these works could fade out of existence

Beautiful but my heart is bleeding for all homeless people that are sleeping around the gallery, young and old ones...

Beautiful gallery with visiting shows. Sorolla today was absolutely stunning. Audio guide very good too. So lucky to have this in London

Great paintings, amazing gift shop, free of charge. Atmosphere as well as staff working is welcoming. Information plate next to the painting provides sufficient information for anyone to enjoy a little background of the painting. Also, the Gallery changes some of the exhibition pieces pretty often so there is fresh content to enjoy. Definitely an amazing place to visit during your trip to London, however I would not recommend visiting with a small child as they will most likely get impatient due to the plethora of pieces.

I was really impressed with this place. It reminded me of Uffizi galery in Florence, another amazing place for art lovers.

The National Gallery is a must-visit place for art lovers. It has many famous paintings which include Sunflowers by Van Gogh, da Vinci among many others.

It is free of cost and easily takes half a day. There is a list of what to see on their website.

There will be long queues during peak timings so make sure you avoid the peak times to have a refreshing experience.

Overall a good day out and something you must do to add some culture to a trip to London.

Good kids activities. We were offered analysis of a quadtych and made unfired pots and painted them at no charge. Only managed to get to get the kids through about three gallery rooms afterwards though but can't blame the museum for that one. Still, made it to Canaletto

Fantastic collection of paintings! Something for everyone's taste and style. I particularly enjoy the impressionist rooms. While we were there they had a special collection of Degas drawing on display which were fantastic to see!

This is a beautiful place and photographic venue. Photography enthusiasts will love this place as there are many elements and moments you would love to capture.

Gallery itself is of great history and the paintings in it does speak further. People with love towards realistic art and history can spend days in here.

Most interesting talk about three paintings. They do this so well

MUST SEE.
With the fact that London's Museums are free you can not visit them all!
An incredible oportunity to understand and make even more questions about everything.

Amazing pieces of art can be found here. Anyone who appreciates history should visit!

SOOOOO COOL
I love all the paintings in here because I'm a huge art nerd! Very accessible but also really big inside so if you get tired easily you might need to sit down somewhere, there are benches inside in pretty much all of the rooms.
Cafe and restaurant is also really nice and they have many disabled loos and lifts!

A must for art lovers. Admission is free. A great collection of paintings by the greatest artists:
Classics like Vermeer, Leonardo da Vinci, Hans Holbein, Botticelli, as well as impressionist and modern - Van Gogh, Monet, Degat. (I can't really name then all)
A great place for beginners to compare the different genres.
You can easily spend a whole day in the museum.
Place is spacious so you can watch the pictures calmly. There is a decent cafeteria if you want to stop and relax.

Spectacular! Best collection of Van Gogh, MichaelAngelo, Renoir, Ruben, Sargent, etc. If you go to London you have to see the master pieces! There are 40,000 + works of art on display.

This is a jewel you can t miss in London and it is free.

Gathers works by leading painters of history, with free access.

Art, mostly painting. Very entry (Be respectful and donate a couple of pounds I guess) and great location that will for sure fit into your plans when you visit London. A lot of great paintings, some super familiar and some less, divided into rooms based on years.
Highly recommended, because it's free you don't feel obligated to spend half a day at least and explore everything but just be there for as much as you like.

Nice place. A lot of beautiful paintings. The staff was a bit rude.

I was looking at chiaroscuro for a student and their website was useful; suggesting examples I could look at.

Amazing place. So much to see. Can't believe it's free entry. Natural made a donation.

Lovely place to wander round for an hour or so. I'm not really into art but still found it quite enjoyable and free to get in always good!

I love Van Gogh but there is so much to see. It s a must in London.

Excellent place to visit. Lot to see so if local just pop in every so often

Simply too much to see in one day - rooms of great art spanning the centuries. Fascinating. Artist in residence exhibition and short film well worth seeing.

Nice, free museum. I would do some research beforehand so you know which rooms to go to in order to view the art you want to see. Can get pretty crowded.

Honestly I like museums but for some reason this was a bit underwhelming. Maybe it was my mood that day.

Like walking through a cathedral of the world's finest art. Always so calm in here and so many masterpieces to learn more about. Its free but the donations keep it so.

Portraits of people display a pathos of character rarely possible in a photograph

Very nice, came here again for the Money exhibition. Worth the price paid.

This is one of my favorite museums in London. Maybe because I lived so close to it. It has a huge collection. I'd recommend going multiple times to appreciate everything.

Very good installations in a well curated flow from early 16th century to mid 20th century. Includes works from some of the greats such as Monet, Manet, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bellini, Reubens, Van Gogh, Picasso, Seraut, and Gainsborough just to name a few.

Definietly worth spending few hours. A lot to see inside, fantasting paitings, few famous authors. Best option is working day when there is no huge traffic And You have time to see everything without haste.

Fantastic place and very knowledgeable friendly staff.

Such a nice place to hang out. Home of greatest arts!

You should visit one of the best museum of the world

Loved the Cindy Sherman exhibit this summer. Not easy to get around with a stroller.... Must see when in London for any art lover.

Excellent range of artwork, but difficult to find your way around the building without being completely lost. Very very busy on weekends, but going off peak would be much more pleasant.

If you're in the area with time to kill then you absolutely must visit!