The National Gallery. Paintings, People, Portraits

200Edition: EnglishAvailability: February 15, 2025

Get to know the National Gallery’s masterworks through the eyes of leading cultural figures and contemporary artists photographed in the Gallery and behind-the-scenes spaces. Organized chronologically, this book tells the story of 700 years of art history through a selection of over 200 paintings in the collection, from Margarito d’Arezzo to Claude Monet.

Hardcover, 29 x 39.5 cm, 6.31 kg, 582 pages

“I go to the National Gallery rather like going to a doctor for help.”

Lucian Freud, 1988

From Medieval to Modern

A bicentennial celebration of the National Gallery’s picture collection

Since it was established in 1824, the National Gallery has become a beacon for London's visitors and residents alike. From its inception in John Julius Angerstein's home in Mayfair to its current home in Trafalgar Square, it has expanded both its collection and its footprint to become one of the world's leading galleries. This book features photographic portraits by David Dawson and Mary McCartney in addition to photography of the Gallery by Massimo Listri. It brings together over 200 of the Gallery's paintings, which were made between the 13th and 20th centuries, including memorable masterpieces from both the famous and the forgotten.

These pages tell the history of painting in the Western European tradition through the National Gallery's collection. You’ll go on a visual journey through the centuries, with works by Duccio, Van Eyck, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Vigée Le Brun, Gainsborough, Morisot, and Matisse, to name just a few. Punctuating this story are contributions by and photographic portraits of 25 cultural figures, such as Frank Auerbach, Alvaro Barrington, Edward Enninful, David Hockney, Kim Jones, Damian Lewis, Sahara Longe, Chris Ofili, Ai Weiwei, Rachel Whiteread, Annabelle Selldorf, and Flora Yukhnovich, among others.

The authors

Annetta Berry has a PhD in History of Art from the University of Cambridge and an MFA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) from the University of East Anglia. She has worked predominantly for the National Gallery over the past 25 years, writing catalogues, guidebooks, collections interpretation, and multimedia. Her work has been nominated for two Interactive BAFTAs and her debut art historical novel won the First Novel Prize.

Christine Riding is Director of Collections and Research and Curator of British Paintings at the National Gallery. Prior to this she was the Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department. Before joining the National Gallery, Christine held curatorial positions at the Museum of London, Palace of Westminster, Tate and the Royal Museums Greenwich. She was also Deputy Editor of ‘Art History’ (Journal of the Association for Art History) and the Chair of The Association for Art History.

The editors

Anh Nguyen holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford and is the Director of Development and member of the Executive Committee at the National Gallery. Prior to this role, she was the Director of Development at both the Serpentine Galleries and Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Rebecca Marks has a BA in History of Art from University College London and a diploma in Fine Art from the Chelsea School of Arts. Founder of Green Wolf Studio, she has produced films as well as collaborations across the arts sector.