The National

Gallery
Tara Babić, 2.G
Introduction

The National Gallery is one of

London’s most valuable cultural
institutions, not only a collection of
British artwork, but global history and
heritage.
About
Collection
The Gallery contains a
plethora of renaissance,
baroque, but mostly
impressionist artwork,
from the mid-13th through
20th century, about 2,300+
paintings.

📍this neoclassicistic building is

situated on Trafalgar square, where it
has been since 1838.
2,7 million
visitors in 2022, down 50% since 2019
Collection highlights:
Sunflowers The water-lily pond
Vincent van Gogh, 1889 Claude Monet, 1899

Lady standing at a
Virginal
Johannes Vermeer, 1671

Google ads
Notable events
1824 1831 20th-21st c.
Formation of the National Location moves to Modernisation and
Gallery trustees Trafalgar Square reconstruction

1825 1838
The purchase of Angerstein’s The National Gallery’s
collection official opening
 History
The National Gallery was officially opened on May
10th, 1824 and was situated at Pall Mall 100, the home
of John Julius Angerstein, a banker and major
contributor to the first collections.

As a new building was under construction at Charing

Cross, the trustees of the gallery worked on collecting
more art, Italian high-renaissance paintings making up
the core of the collection

The Gallery survived post-World War II

reconstructions and has spend the latter years of the
20th century modernising its space.
 Controversies
The greatest critique of the National gallery remains
the over-restoration. Restoring and reconstructing the
pieces in the collection has been done be the Gallery
for centuries, but many argue that reckless overuse of
the cleaning supplies will damage the works more than
time.

The Gallery’s copy of ‘Sunflowers’ was attacked on

October 14th, 2022, by climate change activists
dousing the painting in soup, trying to shine light on
our current climate change situation. Luckily, it
remained unharmed.
“The National Gallery must be a living
institution that reflects the society it
serves, yet remain faithful to its core
mission - the public enjoyment and
understanding of works of art.”
—Nicholas Penny
former director of the National Gallery (2008-2015)
Thank you!

Tara Babić, 2.G