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National Gallery / Your visit

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Choose the visit you want

Start with a few paintings, allow for the way between them and leave room for a break.

Choose the visit you want

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The National Gallery is easier to enjoy if you arrive with permission to leave most of it for another day. Choose a handful of paintings that give you a reason to stop. The collection’s main floor brings together several centuries, so even a short visit can cover a considerable distance in time and on foot.

Start upstairs

Enter through the Sainsbury Wing on the Trafalgar Square side. The foyer is on Level 0 and the main collection on Level 2, reached by stair or lift. Give yourself time for screening and finding the first room before starting a tour’s suggested duration. The Portico is an exit, so the large central steps are not the main way in.

Choose one thread

The first visit moves from the Wilton Diptych to Van Gogh through seven paintings. The other tours follow early painting, portraits, stories or changing ways of painting light. You can also stay in one part of the building. Two pictures in the same room can sustain a worthwhile visit if you give them time.

Look, then read

Spend a few moments with the picture before opening its text. Find something that catches your eye, then use the reading to follow it further. The brief and extended tour readings share the same physical route. Choose the amount of reading that suits your energy, and use the map to see where the next room is.

Make room for a pause

There is seating in the painting galleries, and folding stools can be requested. Food and drink belong in the catering areas. Toilets and other facilities are marked by floor on the map. A break does not have to mark the end of the visit, and seeing fewer paintings can leave you with clearer memories of them.

Official visit information ↗

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Choose the visit you want · 1

National Gallery / Your next move

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Your own selection. Follow the route instructions and on-site signs between stops; custom combinations have no verified transfer time.

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