Stories ·
The Gallery in time
A short chronology links the collection’s beginnings, its building, wartime refuge and changing public spaces.
National Gallery / Your next move
Bring this chapter to life.
Keep exploring National Gallery with our travel partners.
1824 · A public collection begins
Parliament buys 38 paintings from John Julius Angerstein’s collection for £57,000. The National Gallery opens on 10 May at 100 Pall Mall. Why London has this collection explains the purchase and its wider context.
1826 · Beaumont’s gift arrives
Sir George Beaumont gives his collection, adding to the paintings bought two years earlier. Gifts and later bequests become an important part of the Gallery’s growth.
1838 · A home on Trafalgar Square
William Wilkins’s purpose-built Gallery opens on the square. The long classical front still shapes the view from outside. How the Gallery grew around its paintings follows the later extensions.
1876 · New galleries open
Edward Middleton Barry’s eight galleries provide more room for the growing collection. Further halls, stairs and galleries by John Taylor follow in 1884.
1939 · Evacuation and music
The paintings leave London as war begins. Myra Hess’s first wartime concert takes place on 10 October in the emptied Gallery.
1941 · Shelter at Manod
The collection moves into prepared storage in a slate quarry in north Wales. A gallery emptied by war, kept open by people follows the paintings and the London audiences.
1942 · One picture returns
Titian’s Noli me Tangere becomes the first Picture of the Month. The chosen painting is brought out for public viewing and stored underground overnight.
1991 · The Sainsbury Wing
The wing designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown opens beside the Wilkins building, giving the earlier paintings a new home.
2025 · A new arrival
The reworked Sainsbury spaces reopen to the public on 10 May after a redesign by Selldorf Architects with Purcell. A new arrangement of the collection changes the journey through the painting galleries.
Photo gallery 1
Image credits
- xiquinhosilva · Central Hall, National Gallery.jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/bryansjs · Entrance hall of the National Gallery, looking north.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/bryansjs · Entrance hall of the National Gallery, looking south.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diego Delso · Bóveda de la sala 36, Galería Nacional, Londres, Inglaterra, 2014-08-11, DD 165-167 HDR.JPG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Philafrenzy · National Gallery Sainsbury Wing staircase.jpg · CC0 · WebP / AVIF