The New National Portrait Gallery

Date: 28 Jun 2023

Ashleigh John

Art lovers rejoice! London’s National Portrait Gallery re-opens its doors after a 3-year renovation.

Transformed by the Inspiring People project, the Collection has undergone a complete representation, in addition to significant refurbishment of the building, the creation of public spaces, a more welcoming visitor entrance and public forecourt, and a new Learning Centre.

The Gallery has been closed to the public since Spring 2020 for the completion of the building project but has, at long last, flung its doors open to the public once more. From its reopening date of 22 June until 2 July 2023, the Gallery is hosting the ‘First Look Festival’, which gives audiences the chance to celebrate and experience the sparkling new Gallery. The Festival’s headlining event is a special in-conversation event on 29 June with Paul McCartney and Stanley Tucci. Other highlights include artist talks and curator tours, practical workshops and DJ sets, and in-conversations with artist Tracey Emin and architect Jamie Fobert.

Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Gallery’s team of expert curators, take part in art and photography workshops and attend a variety of free events, including poetry performances and descriptive events for partially sighted visitors. 24 June and 1 July will see a range of family-friendly activities including storytelling sessions and family tours, and young people can take part in free artist workshops, tours, spoken word, music and film screenings on 25 June and 2 July.

Yevonde: Life and Colour and Paul McCartney Photographs, 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm are the first two exhibitions to open, on the 22 June and 28 June respectively. Yevonde explores the life and career of this pioneering London photographer, who spearheaded the use of colour photography in the 1930s, and features portraits and still-life works produced by Yevonde over her 60-year career. The exhibition also draws on the archive of her work that the Gallery acquired in 2021, as well as extensive new research by the Gallery’s teams. Eyes of the Storm reveals never-before-seen photographs taken by Paul McCartney and focuses on the portraits captured by McCartney, using his own camera, between December 1963 and February 1964. This timeframe coincided with the explosion of The Beatles from British sensations to a global phenomenon, and the images featured in this exhibition offer insider perspective on what it was like to be apart of this band as the ‘Beatlemania’ begun.