LONDON.- Today, The Princess of Wales, Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, reopened the Gallery following an extensive, three-year refurbishment programme.

The transformation of the National Portrait Gallery marks the biggest redevelopment project that the building has seen since 1896. The refurbishment programme has seen a comprehensive redisplay of the Collection in beautifully refurbished galleries, including more than 50 new acquisitions, and the restoration of the Grade I listed building. The Gallery will reopen to members of the public from Thursday 22 June.

The Princess was greeted on the Gallery’s forecourt by Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, before meeting David Ross, Chair of Gallery’s Board of Trustees, Jamie Fobert, Project Architect, and award-winning artist Tracey Emin, who was commissioned to create an artwork for the Gallery’s new doors, incorporating 45 carved brass panels, representing ‘every woman, throughout time’.

The transformation of the National Portrait Gallery marks the biggest redevelopment project that the building has seen since 1896. The refurbishment programme has seena comprehensive redisplay of the Collection in beautifully refurbished galleries, including more than 50 new acquisitions, and the restoration oUpon entering the building, formally opening the Gallery’s new doors for the first time, Her Royal Highness visited The Mildred and Simon Palley Learning Centre, which has formed a crucial part of the Gallery’s redevelopment and has more than doubled its provision for learners. The Princess heard about the Gallery’s new Under 5’s Programme, before joining nursery children taking part in a multi-sensory workshop focussed on the world of Beatrix Potter.

Launching in September, the Under 5’s programme, which has been developed in partnership with the London Borough of Westminster family hubs and local state nurseries, will welcome families from the local community to the Gallery and encourage creative learning, play and exploration.

Following this, The Princess had the opportunity to see one of the Gallery’s most recent acquisitions, Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai). The artwork, which is widely regarded as the finest portrait produced by one of Britain’s greatest artists, was jointly acquired by the Gallery and Getty this year following a historic fundraising campaign. The two institutions will share the painting for public exhibition, research and conservation care, maximising public access to the work in perpetuity.

Her Royal Highness then viewed Yevonde: Life and Colour, a new exhibition which explores the life and career of Yevonde, the pioneering London photographer who spearheaded the use of colour photography in the 1930s. Featuring portraits and still-life works produced by Yevonde over a sixty-year career, the exhibition also includes the archive of her work, which the Gallery acquired in 2021, and has been supported by The CHANEL Culture Fund. Here The Princess met Clare Freestone, Curator of Photography, Dr. Flavia Frigeri, CHANEL Curator for the Collection, and Yana Peel, Global Head of Arts and Culture at CHANEL, who spoke to The Princess about the Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture project and its efforts to increase female representation at the Gallery.

The Princess then met Paul McCartney, whose photography exhibition opens at the Gallery next week, in addition to a number of the Gallery's major supporters. Ending her visit, The Princess descended the Gallery’s historic staircase, passing through a new display of self-portraits by female artists, before departing.

The Gallery’s transformation has been made possible by major grants from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, as well as major donations from the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Ross Foundation, Mildred and Simon Palley, Julia and Hans Rausing, the David and Claudia Harding Foundation, Bjorn and Inger Saven, the Law Family Charitable Foundation, David and Molly Lowell Borthwick, the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation and Art Fund. The National Portrait Gallery is grateful to these visionary supporters, alongside others who have made the building project and its related activity possible.