June 22, 2023
Three Years, £41 Million: The National Portrait Gallery Reopens Transformed
After its biggest overhaul since 1896, London's National Portrait Gallery flung open new bronze doors and rehung the story of Britain through the faces that made it.
In June 2023, after a three-year closure and a £41.3 million transformation, the National Portrait Gallery returned — and it felt like a different institution. The 'Inspiring People' redevelopment, led by Jamie Fobert Architects, was the most extensive reworking of the building since 1896.
More than 1,000 works were rehung from scratch, with over 50 new acquisitions and a deliberate effort to widen who gets to hang on the walls: alongside monarchs and statesmen now sit the new faces of modern Britain. A brand-new public entrance arrived behind bronze doors designed by Tracey Emin, etched with 45 portraits of women.
The Princess of Wales reopened the gallery on 20 June; the public poured in from 22 June, with a Paul McCartney photography exhibition as the headline show. It was a homecoming for one of the few places on earth dedicated entirely to the human face.
Image: “Shakespeare” — Attributed to John Taylor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.