Unofficial visitor guide · London
Official audio guide · English Yes · 9 languages · Free
The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square holds the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition, from the 13th to the 19th centuries, and general admission is free. Its collection audio guide, also free, covers over 50 paintings in nine languages, among them Japanese, Korean and Mandarin Chinese, and you play it on your own phone. Personal photography is allowed, so you can photograph a label and listen to it in your own language.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the National Gallery.
Checked on 21 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official National Gallery website before you go.
Checked on 21 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official National Gallery website before you go.
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
The convex mirror on the back wall reflects the couple from behind and two men coming in through a door where you are standing. Just above it, in elaborate curling script, Van Eyck wrote in Latin 'Jan van Eyck was here. 1434'.
The stretched grey shape between the two men's feet turns into a skull when you look up at the painting from the bottom right corner. Half-hidden behind the green curtain at top left is a small crucifix, which the gallery reads as a hint of hope in the resurrected Christ.
This is the only surviving female nude painted by Velázquez. On 10 March 1914 the suffragette Mary Richardson attacked it with a meat cleaver in protest at Emmeline Pankhurst's arrest, leaving seven slashes that the gallery's restorer later repaired.
nationalgallery.org.uk: The Rokeby Venus · wikipedia.org: Rokeby Venus
The 98-gun warship that defended Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar is towed by a steam tug to a breaker's wharf at Rotherhithe. Turner bent the facts: two tugs did the job, and a ship heading west up the Thames could not have had the sunset behind it.
A train bursts towards you across Brunel's Maidenhead viaduct, completed in 1838. Turner added a hare running ahead of it on the track; the paint has become transparent with age, so the hare is now invisible, but it shows clearly in an 1859 engraving.
This is Leonardo's second version for a chapel altarpiece in San Francesco Grande, Milan; he sold the first, now in the Louvre, when the confraternity refused to pay him enough. Compare the angel: in Paris it looks out and points at John the Baptist, here it gazes down into the group.
Made for Richard II's private use, this small folding altarpiece shows the kneeling king with three saints, facing the Virgin and eleven angels who all wear his white hart badge. On top of the banner staff, a tiny orb shows England as a green island with a white tower.
Seurat painted this before he turned 25. Rejected by the official Salon of 1884, it was shown instead at the new Salon des Artistes Indépendants. He later reworked parts in his dotted technique: look at the orange hat, retouched with spots of yellow and blue.
Blindfolded, the teenage queen of nine days reaches for the block. A sensation at the Paris Salon of 1834, the picture was long thought destroyed in the 1928 Thames flood, until it turned up in the Tate's basement in 1973.
A life-size portrait of the Marquess of Rockingham's Arabian racehorse, almost three metres high, with no rider, saddle or setting. Stubbs had spent 18 months dissecting horses in a Lincolnshire barn, yet he twisted the pose to show more of the body than a real horse could.
Tales of Museums reads the label in front of you aloud in your language, for any label you can photograph. The Gallery has free Wi-Fi (look for 'National Gallery'). Bring your own headphones, because the Gallery does not provide them for use with personal devices.
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Yes, in nine languages. The Gallery's free collection audio guide covers over 50 of the best-known paintings in the collection in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Japanese, with audio-described and BSL versions and a shorter highlights selection. You open it from the Gallery's audio guides page and play it on your own phone with your own headphones. The exhibition Renoir and Love has a separate £5 audio tour in English and French until 31 January 2027. The audio guide desk is on Floor 1 of the Sainsbury Wing. nationalgallery.org.uk: audio guides · nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit (free audio guide) · nationalgallery.org.uk: audio guide terms and conditions · nationalgallery.org.uk: Renoir and Love (exhibition dates) · nationalgallery.org.uk: access
Yes. You may take photos and film for personal, non-commercial use, including in exhibitions unless the label beside a work says otherwise. Flash, extra lighting, tripods, selfie sticks and gimbals are not allowed. Signs mark some loan paintings where photography is restricted. You must not photograph other visitors or staff without their permission. Do not photograph or film children and young people without the accompanying adult's consent, and do not photograph, record or stream guided tours. nationalgallery.org.uk: visitor photography · nationalgallery.org.uk: visitor admissions policy
General admission is free. You can turn up without a ticket, but the Gallery recommends booking a free ticket online, which gives you fast-track entry. Some exhibitions charge for entry, and an exhibition ticket also covers general admission. nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit · nationalgallery.org.uk: access
The Gallery is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00, and until 21:00 on Fridays. It is closed 24–26 December and 1 January. The main picture galleries are all on one level, Level 2, and every room has a number. Building work for a new Research Centre has closed some rooms, so check the floorplan and the painting's page before your visit if you want to see a particular work. nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit · nationalgallery.org.uk: visual story
Charing Cross rail station is about 200 metres from the Gallery, and Charing Cross Underground station is on the Bakerloo and Northern lines. The nearest step-free Underground stations are Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines) and Westminster (Jubilee, District and Circle lines). The nearest bus stops are St Martin's Place (Stop K), Trafalgar Square / Charing Cross Station (Stops C, D and G) and Leicester Square Station (Stop L). nationalgallery.org.uk: access · tfl.gov.uk: Charing Cross Underground station
Yes. The Sainsbury Wing main entrance is step-free, there are lifts throughout the building, and baby buggies are welcome. You can book manual wheelchairs and a rollator in advance on +44 (0)20 7747 2885. A few are also lent first come, first served at the Sainsbury Wing and Getty entrances. There are accessible toilets near every entrance, and Changing Places toilets on Floor 0 of the Sainsbury Wing and the Roden Centre. You need a radar key for these, and staff can give you one. nationalgallery.org.uk: access · nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit
The cloakroom costs £3 per item (free for Members) and takes bags up to 56 x 25 x 45 cm. Wheeled luggage, including cabin bags, and suitcases are not allowed. You may bring your own food, but there are few places to eat it. Because of allergy and cross-contamination risks you cannot eat it in the café and restaurant spaces, and no food or drink is allowed in the picture galleries. nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit · nationalgallery.org.uk: visual story
The main entrance for all visitors, including ticket holders and Members, is the Sainsbury Wing. It faces Trafalgar Square at the corner of Pall Mall and Whitcomb Street. The Getty Entrance near Charing Cross Road is for paid exhibition ticket holders. The Roden Centre on Orange Street is for school groups and people attending events there. nationalgallery.org.uk: plan your visit · nationalgallery.org.uk: visual story · nationalgallery.org.uk: access
Yes. At weekends and in school holidays the National Gallery's Welcome Space in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning (Orange Street) has free self-guided family activities, with no booking needed, and there are free family tours and workshops. Families can eat a packed lunch in the Social Space on the top floor of the Roden Centre, and there is a buggy park there. Children aged 7 and over can play The Keeper of Paintings, a free hide-and-seek game that runs in the phone's web browser. nationalgallery.org.uk: family activities
Yes, the National Gallery has several. Muriel's Kitchen (counter service, salads, quiches and hot meals) is on Level 0 by the Getty Exit. For coffee and a light bite there is Bar Giorgio in the Sainsbury Wing foyer and the Espresso Bar by Muriel's in the Annenberg Court. For a sit-down meal there are two restaurants, Ochre Brasserie and Osteria Locatelli, which take reservations. nationalgallery.org.uk: eat and drink
Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888) hangs in Room 43 of the National Gallery, the room for Van Gogh, Gauguin and Post-Impressionism, on the main gallery level (Level 2). nationalgallery.org.uk: Sunflowers · nationalgallery.org.uk: floorplan, Level 2
The National Gallery's two paintings by Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman standing at a Virginal and A Young Woman seated at a Virginal (both about 1670–2), hang together in Room 25. nationalgallery.org.uk: Johannes Vermeer · nationalgallery.org.uk: A Young Woman standing at a Virginal · nationalgallery.org.uk: A Young Woman seated at a Virginal
Yes. The National Gallery runs a free 60-minute taster tour of the collection on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (not on public holidays) from 15:00 to 16:00, meeting in the Central Hall; there is no booking, places are first come, first served, and it is open to individuals and groups of up to 4. The 90-minute Saturday Highlights tour is paid, from £25 for adults. nationalgallery.org.uk: daily guided tour · nationalgallery.org.uk: Highlights tour
Yes. The National Gallery's floorplan pages list every room on Level 2, Level 0 and in the Sainsbury Wing with what hangs there and which rooms are closed, and you can download the map as a PDF. nationalgallery.org.uk: floorplans · nationalgallery.org.uk: downloadable map (PDF, 15 October 2026)
If you only have an hour, the National Gallery's free audio guide has a curated selection of highlights, built for visitors who want to see the most famous paintings in that time; the full guide covers over 50 paintings. The Gallery's free drop-in taster tour of the collection also lasts 60 minutes. nationalgallery.org.uk: audio guides · nationalgallery.org.uk: guided tour (60-minute taster tour)
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the National Gallery. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.