Approaching from Trafalgar Square

Face the National Gallery from Trafalgar Square and find the central columned Portico. The Sainsbury Wing is at the building’s western end, to your left from this viewpoint. That is where the main collection entrance is. The square gives enough distance to compare the long nineteenth-century front with the later wing. Both belong to a museum that grew around a public collection of paintings. The exterior visit stays in public pedestrian space and does not require admission to the galleries. Watch for people crossing the forecourt and keep clear of entrance and exit queues when stopping to look.