National Gallery
A free art museum on Trafalgar Square with more than 2,300 Western paintings from the 13th to 19th centuries, including Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks, and works by Turner, Monet, and Vermeer.
The National Gallery was founded in 1824 and stands on the north side of Trafalgar Square. Its collection of about 2,300 Western European paintings, from the 13th century to the early 20th century, is known for its selectivity, with nearly every gallery holding textbook masterpieces. General admission to the permanent collection is free.
Key works include Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Wheatfield with Cypresses, Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks and his charcoal drawing The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, Botticelli's Venus and Mars, Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, Velázquez's Rokeby Venus, Turner's The Fighting Temeraire and Rain, Steam and Speed, Constable's The Hay Wain, Monet's Water Lilies, Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, and self-portraits by Vermeer and Rembrandt. The Sainsbury Wing, which completed its 200th-anniversary refurbishment in 2025, houses the early Renaissance collection.
It is best to reserve a free timed slot in advance. Enter through the Sainsbury Wing entrance and go through the galleries in chronological order. Focus on the highlights for 2 hours, or plan 3 to 4 hours for the whole museum. A Chinese-language audio guide costs about 5 pounds.
Charing Cross and Leicester Square Underground stations are each a 3-minute walk away. Next door is the National Portrait Gallery, also free and reopened after refurbishment in 2023. Across the square, the crypt café at St Martin-in-the-Fields and its free lunchtime concerts are worth a visit. Chinatown, Covent Garden, and the West End theatres are all within walking distance.
Photography without flash is allowed in the galleries, and large luggage must be checked.
Opening hours
10:00–18:00 (until 21:00 on Fridays)
Nearby sights
- Trafalgar Square
- Piccadilly Circus
- Covent Garden
- Churchill War Rooms
- Westminster Abbey
- London Eye
- Palace of Westminster & Big Ben
- British Museum