by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on July 14, 2026 / Updated on July 16, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +447429011000
DSC5399 - Flickr - dconvertini.jpg by dconvertini; CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped for TheHistoryOfArt.org. · Image source
Current and upcoming exhibitions
These exhibitions are placed high on the page because they are the clearest reason to plan a visit around this museum now.
About The National Gallery
The National Gallery in London, UK, is a useful starting point for european painting from late medieval and Renaissance art to the early twentieth century. The 5 attached exhibitions help the page work both as a collection guide and as a practical route into what is on now.
For a first visit, build the route around European painting, Renaissance, Northern painting, Dutch Golden Age, Spanish Baroque and Impressionism. Artists especially worth slowing down for include Jan van Eyck, Francisco de Zurbarán, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. Current and upcoming exhibitions can then help decide what deserves priority on the day.
Collection highlights to prioritise
These works are not a complete top-ten list. They are strong anchors for a first visit: objects that help explain the museum’s identity, support deeper interpretation and connect naturally to artists or artworks elsewhere on the site.
- The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, 1434. Essential Northern Renaissance highlight and anchor for the Van Eyck portraits exhibition
- Saint Francis in Meditation by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639. Strong Spanish Baroque route into the Zurbarán exhibition and monastic/religious painting
- Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli, c.1485. High-search Renaissance highlight and useful contrast with Northern painting
- The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, 1601. Major Baroque highlight; useful for dramatic lighting and religious narrative
- Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, 1888. High-recognition visitor highlight and internal link into Van Gogh cluster
- Bathers at Asnières by Georges Seurat, 1884. Late nineteenth-century route into modern painting and Pointillism
Use these highlights as a route, not a checklist. The most rewarding visit will usually come from slowing down in front of fewer works and noticing how chronology, patronage, material, national school and display sequence change the way each object reads.
Plan around current exhibitions
Current and upcoming exhibitions are one of the clearest reasons to visit or revisit the museum now. A visitor may arrive here from the museum name, from an artist search, or from the exhibitions table; either way, the page should make the live programme easy to understand before sending readers to official venue details.
Sources and further reading
Use these official museum pages, object records and exhibition sources to check details and keep exploring.
- Our history
Core institutional history source - Explore the collection
Collection scope and searchable collection source - Highlights from the collection
Official highlight-selection source - The Arnolfini Portrait
Priority object record - Saint Francis in Meditation
Priority object record - Van Eyck: The Portraits
Current/upcoming exhibition support - Renoir and Love
Current/upcoming exhibition support - Zurbarán
Current exhibition support
How to use this guide
Before travelling, check The National Gallery directly for opening hours, temporary closures, access arrangements and ticketing. This page avoids precise pricing by design, because prices and discounts change more often than the art-historical content. The stable value is route planning: what to see, why it matters, and which related pages are worth opening next.
