Summer Events And Workshops At The National Portrait Gallery

Listings Information

MAY 2024

Drop-in drawing
Friday 3 May 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

Ekow Eshun in-conversation with Dorothy Price
Friday 3 May 2024
19.00-20.00
£15 on site (£12 concessions), booking essential
Join Ekow Eshun, the curator of our current exhibition The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, in-conversation with Dorothy Price, the curator of the Royal Academy’s current exhibition Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change.

Ekow and Dorothy will explore and discuss these two important exhibitions running concurrently in London and explore their significance; their narratives and ambitions; and the experience of working with contemporary artists. Ekow will reflect on his curatorial approach to The Time is Always Now, drawing on its central themes and its showcase of contemporary artists including Michael Armitage, Lubaina Himid, Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Amy Sherald. Dorothy will reflect on her collaborative curation of Entangled Pasts, exploring the conversations between historic and contemporary works. Together they will reflect on what these two exhibitions in London signify and why now.

Lunchtime Lecture – Sarah Siddons: The First Celebrity Actress
Thursday 9 May 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential
Celebrating the legendary actress Sarah Siddons and the first biography about her in over 50 years, author and award-winning TV drama and comedy producer, Jo Willett, uncovers previously unpublished sources to reveal new insights into Sarah’s marriage, life and career. Fittingly for a superstar known in her lifetime as Britain’s greatest tragic actress, there are forty-two portraits of Sarah in the Gallery’s Collection. Adored by theatre audiences, writers, artists and the royal family alike, Sarah grasped the importance of her image. She made sure that every leading portrait painter captured her likeness, so that engravings could be sold to her adoring public. In an eighteenth-century world of vicious satire and gossip, Sarah battled to manage her reputation, taking pains to portray herself as respectable and happily married. At this lunchtime lecture, Jo will reveal that her story is not only one of rags to riches fame, but of a pioneering woman who redefined the world of theatre.

Film screening – Super Sam, in-conversation with director Sandi Hudson-Francis
Friday 10 May 2024
18.00-20.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential
Super Sam invites us on a journey to explore the life of a Windrush Generation immigrant through an intimate portrait of 92 year old Clovis Salmon, who left Jamaica in 1945 to work on sugar plantations in America before settling in Brixton in 1954 where he purchased a Super 8 film Camera and began documenting life around him.

Film screening – The Watermelon Woman
Saturday 11 May 2024
14.00-16.00
Free, booking essential
Set in Philadelphia and directed by Cheryl Dunye, The Watermelon Woman is the story of Cheryl, a twentysomething black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s black film actress popularly known as ‘the Watermelon Woman’. While uncovering the meaning of Fae Richards’ life, Cheryl experiences a total upheaval in her personal life. Her love affair with Diana, a beautiful white woman, and her interactions with the gay and black communities are subject to the comic yet biting criticism of her best friend Tamara. Meanwhile, each answer Cheryl discovers about the Watermelon Woman evokes a flurry of new questions about herself and her future. The Watermelon Woman is a metaphor for Cheryl’s search for identity, community, and love.

Weekend workshop – Introduction to figurative painting
Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 May 2024
11.00-17.00
£250 on site (£200 concessions), booking essential
Join visual artist Shannon Bono to learn the basics of figurative painting in this two-day workshop. Explore and discuss the work on display in our current exhibition The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure. Learn from Bono, an artist who centres the authentic representation of women of colour in her work, also taking reference and inspiration from works on display by painter Amy Sherald. A specialist in realistic portraiture created by using staged photographs, Sherald’s work often depicts African American sitters in everyday settings, but Sherald uses grey skins tones to challenge conventions about skin colour and race. Bono will provide technical tuition, explaining how to create a portrait that captures personality and individual biography, providing insight into her own artistic process as well. The weekend workshop is suitable for all abilities, including those new to painting, and all materials will be provided.

The Time is Always Now – Meet the Makers
Monday 13 to Sunday 19 May 2024
10.30-18.00
Free, drop in
Discover the work of makers selected for the Shop to compliment the Gallery’s exhibition, The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure. Reflecting a diverse maker community, work includes handmade ceramics, homewares, accessories and jewellery. Visit the Gallery Shop and meet the makers throughout London Craft Week. Makers include leather worker Kingsley Walters; ceramicists Ronaldo Wiltshire and Bisila Noha; jeweller Umutoni; candlemaker Goods Lifestyle Store; textiles artist Amechi Mandi; and chocolatier Lucocoa Chocolate.

Little Explorers
Wednesday 15 May 2024
10.45-11.30 and 11.30-12.15
Free, booking essential
Our Little Explorers programme – specifically designed for those aged 5 and under – invites families into the Gallery to play and learn amongst the world’s largest collection of portraits. Join us in the Gallery for sensory storytelling, songs and dress-up, followed by a playful workshop in our Learning Centre. Supported by The Mercers’ Company.

Photo London x National Portrait Gallery – Photographer in-conversation
Friday 17 May 2024
Onsite, ticket details to be announced
As we mark the ninth edition of the major international photography fair taking place this week in London, join us in the National Portrait Gallery’s Ondaatje Wing Theatre for a special in conversation event with a contemporary photographer. Held in partnership with Photo London 2024. Photographer, tickets and further details to be announced.

Drop-in drawing
Friday 17 May 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

Lunchtime Lecture – ‘Photography is a place for the viewer to dream in’: What can photography do?
Thursday 23 May 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential
Directly influenced by the central theme of the Gallery’s exhibition Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In, this lecture will look at the ways in which photography is used to transport a viewer beyond reality and into a dream space. Where can photography take us? What can photography do? And how does photography offer an alternative to every-day life?

BSL Tour – The Collection
Saturday 25 May 2024
18.30-19.30
Free, booking essential
Join our free monthly BSL tours for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors to explore spotlighted works in the Collection. Enjoy a social, informal experience where group dialogue is encouraged. BSL students are also welcome to join. Meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

Family Day: Fun with Faces
Tuesday 28 May 2024
11.00-16.00
Free, drop in
Bring faces to life this half term through fun hands-on activities. Mould, shape, paint and animate to create your own portraits of people important to you. Experiment with different materials and let your imagination run wild whilst playing with different styles and techniques. Supported by the Loveday Charitable Trust.

Going Pro
Wednesday 29 to Friday 31 May 2024
10.30-16.00
Free, apply online
Are you aged 15-18 and interested in finding out more about creative careers? At the National Portrait Gallery, we work alongside colleagues with different interests, skills and journeys – all of whom help us look after the Collection, deliver programmes and exhibitions, and welcome visitors every day. This three-day insights programme will offer behind-the-scenes access to the NPG. You will meet and work with different teams across the Gallery, gaining a deeper understanding of the types of careers and pathways available.

Descriptive Tour – The Collection
Friday 31 May 2024
18.00-19.30
Free, booking essential
Join our free monthly audio described tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. Explore featured artworks in the Collection with our Gallery Educator before heading to our Learning Centre for tactile creative activities over tea and coffee. Carers are very welcome and do not need to book a ticket. Meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

Evening Life Drawing
Friday 31 May 2024
18.00-20.00
£20 on site (£16 concessions), booking essential
Join our monthly evening life drawing class held in the Ondaatje Wing Theatre. Working with an expert tutor, be inspired by classic portraits and fascinating stories from the Gallery’s Collection and develop your technical drawing skills in a range of media. The workshop is suitable for all abilities and all materials will be provided.

JUNE 2024

Drop-in drawing
Friday 7 June 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

Little Explorers
Wednesday 19 June 2024
10.45-11.30 and 11.30-12.15
Free, booking essential
Our Little Explorers programme – specifically designed for those aged 5 and under – invites families into the Gallery to play and learn amongst the world’s largest collection of portraits. Join us in the Gallery for sensory storytelling, songs and dress-up, followed by a playful workshop in our Learning Centre. Supported by The Mercers’ Company.

Lunchtime Lecture – Queens in Context: Women in 16th Century Europe – The Lives of Tudor Women
Thursday 20 June 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential. 10% discount applied when booking all five lectures (£45 on site; £36 concessions)
This lecture is one in a series of five that takes as its inspiration the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The series explores the stories of each queen – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr – in the wider historical and societal context of 16th Century Europe.
Elizabeth Norton explores seven ages of Tudor woman, from childhood to old age. Through diverging examples, she illuminates Elizabeth Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister who died in infancy; Cecily Burbage, Elizabeth’s wet nurse; Mary Howard, widowed but influential at court; Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of a controversial queen; and Elizabeth Barton, a peasant girl who would be lauded as a prophetess. Their stories are interwoven through a range of topics – from Tudor toys, contraception and witchcraft – painting a captivating portrait of the lives of queens and the women of their time.

Curator’s Introduction to Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens
Friday 21 June 2024
19.00-20.00
£15 on site (£12 concessions), £10 online livestream (£8 concessions), booking essential.
Join exhibition curator Dr. Charlotte Bolland as she introduces the Gallery’s major exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The show chronicles the representation of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr throughout history and popular culture in the centuries since they lived. Charlotte will delve deeper into the exhibition, its themes and objects exploring historic paintings, drawings and ephemera, and contemporary photography, costume and film. Drawing upon a wealth of factual and fictional materials, the lecture will present the lives, legacies and portrayals of six women who forever changed the landscape of English history.

Drop-in drawing
Friday 21 June 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

Descriptive Tour – The Collection
Friday 21 June 2024
18.00-19.30
Free, booking essential
Join our free monthly audio described tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. Explore featured artworks in the Collection with our Gallery Educator before heading to our Learning Centre for tactile creative activities over tea and coffee. Carers are very welcome and do not need to book a ticket. Meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

BSL Tour – The Collection
Saturday 22 June 204
18.30-19.30
Free, booking essential
Join our free monthly BSL tours for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors to explore spotlighted works in the Collection. Enjoy a social, informal experience where group dialogue is encouraged. BSL students are also welcome to join. Meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

Lunchtime Lecture – Queens in Context: Women in 16th Century Europe – Game of Queens: The Women who made 16th Century Europe
Thursday 27 June 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential. 10% discount applied when booking all five lectures (£45 on site; £36 concessions)
This lecture is one in a series of five that takes as its inspiration the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The series explores the stories of each queen – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr – in the wider historical and societal context of 16th Century Europe.
As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women rose to power. They governed nations while kings fought in foreign lands. They ruled on behalf of nephews, brothers and sons. They negotiated peace between their warring nations. For decades, they ran Europe. Small wonder that it was in this century that the queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard. From mother to daughter and mentor to protégée, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I and Jeanne d’Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation.

Evening Life Drawing
Friday 28 June 2024
18.00-20.00
£20 on site (£16 concessions), booking essential
Led by a figurative artist, join our monthly evening life drawing class held in the Ondaatje Wing Theatre. Working with an expert tutor, be inspired by classic portraits and fascinating stories from the Gallery’s Collection and develop your technical drawing skills in a range of media. The workshop is suitable for all abilities and all materials will be provided.

JULY 2024

Drop-in drawing
Friday 5 July 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

SIX the Musical Interpreted Performance and BSL Tour of Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens
Saturday 6 July 2024
SIX the Musical Interpreted Performance: 16.00-17.20
Six Lives tour: 18.00-19.00
A unique opportunity to attend an interpreted performance of the award-winning SIX the Musical at the Vaudeville Theatre and Deaf-led BSL tour of Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens at the National Portrait Gallery. SIX the Musical will see the wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a celebration of 21st century girl power. The BLS tour for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors led by Alan Murray will explore spotlighted works in the exhibition and will be a social, informal experience where group dialogue is encouraged. Please note that attendees should make their own way to the National Portrait Gallery after the performance and meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

Lunchtime Lecture – Queens in Context: Women in 16th Century Europe – Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women who served the Tudor Queens
Thursday 11 July 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential. 10% discount applied when booking all five lectures (£45 on site; £36 concessions)
This lecture is one in a series of five that takes as its inspiration the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The series explores the stories of each queen – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr – in the wider historical and societal context of 16th Century Europe.

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the queen’s ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, and listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind-the-scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women. In this lecture, Nicola Clark explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. We meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn’s lady-in-waiting, Jane Parker, was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour, Anne Basset, kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the queen, and even the desires of the king himself. As Henry changed wives and changed the very fabric of the country’s structure besides, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn’t exist before.

Panel Discussion – Page, Stage and Screen: Dramatizing Six Lives
Friday 12 July 2024
19.00-20.00
£15 on site (£12 concessions), booking essential
Inspired by the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens, this panel discussion will explore different perspectives on the experience of adapting the biographies of the queens for storytelling in musicals, operas and plays, novels, film and television. The panel will feature varied creative voices who have all taken inspiration from the Queen’s lives for storytelling, including Gabriella Slade, the visionary costume designer behind acclaimed West End show, SIX the Musical; actor Charlotte Hope, who played Katherine of Aragon in 2019 TV series, The Spanish Princess; and novelist Elizabeth Freemantle, whose book Queen’s Gambit about the life of Katherine Parr has been turned into a new film, Firebrand, starring Jude Law and Alicia Vikander.

Little Explorers
Wednesday 17 July 2024
10.45-11.30 and 11.30-12.15
Free, booking essential
Our Little Explorers programme – specifically designed for those aged 5 and under – invites families into the Gallery to play and learn amongst the world’s largest collection of portraits. Join us in the Gallery for sensory storytelling, songs and dress-up, followed by a playful workshop in our Learning Centre. Supported by The Mercers’ Company.

Drop-in drawing
Friday 19 July 2024
18.00-20.00
Free, drop in
Begin your weekend by creating your own work of art, inspired by the world’s largest collection of portraits. Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for 2 hours, this free artist-led drawing workshop is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to accomplished artists. All materials are provided, so no need to bring anything with you unless you want to work in your own sketchbook or on an iPad.

Sensory Tour – The Collection
Sunday 21 July 2024
11.00-12.00
Free, booking essential
Our sensory tours invite visitors with complex support needs and their carers to experience the Collection in imaginative ways. Gallery Educators use sound, movement, touch and smell to bring the stories behind the artworks to life. Carers do not need to book a ticket. Meet in the Gallery’s Entrance Hall, accessed via Ross Place.

Lunchtime Lecture – Queens in Context: Women in 16th Century Europe – Marguerite de Navarre: The Mirror of a Renaissance Queen
25 July 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential. 10% discount applied when booking all five lectures (£45 on site; £36 concessions)
This lecture is one in a series of five that takes as its inspiration the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The series explores the stories of each queen – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr – in the wider historical and societal context of 16th Century Europe.

Drawing on her recent book, Marguerite de Navarre: A Critical Companion, Emily Butterworth will introduce the figure of Queen Marguerite de Navarre, also known as Marguerite d’Angoulême. Sister of the French king François I, Marguerite was a diplomat, thinker and writer sympathetic to the cause of church reform. Marguerite’s portrait by Jean Clouet is displayed in the exhibition as she was an influential figure in the French royal court during the years that Anne Boleyn lived there as lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude. Anne is said to have expressed admiration for Marguerite and may have been influenced by her in the fashioning of her own public image. After her death, Marguerite continued to be seen in England as the model of a Renaissance queen: Jane Seymour’s nieces – Anne, Margaret, and Jane – published a collection of Latin poems in her honour, and Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth I, translated Marguerite’s unusual devotional poem Le Miroir de l’âme pécheresse (The Mirror of the Sinful Soul) as a New Year’s present for her stepmother Katherine Parr. In her own writing, Marguerite promoted a sense of female solidarity and community which is echoed in her English connections.

AUGUST 2024

Summer Family Festival: Framing Faces
Monday 5 to Friday 9 August 2024
Free, drop-in
Get creative this summer with fun hands-on activities as part of 2024’s Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award. With lots to make and do, be inspired by the colours, patterns and textures of portraits that feature in the exhibition.

Summer Family Festival: Time for Tudors
Monday 12 to Friday 16 August 2024
Free, drop-in
Enjoy a five-day-long festival of family activities, which take inspiration from our exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. Explore Tudor stories through creative making, object handling and storytelling.

SEPTEMBER 2024

Youth Late
2 September 2024
19.00-21.00
Free, booking essential
Join us after-dark for our next Youth Late, curated and hosted by our Young Producers, responding to Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. Expect live music and performances, workshops, tours, talks, quiet spaces and more. Everything on the evening is free, including entrance to the exhibition. The event is for those aged 16-25.

Lunchtime Lecture – Queens in Context: Women in 16th Century Europe – Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage that Rocked Europe
5 September 2024
13.00-14.00
£10 on site (£8 concessions), booking essential. 10% discount applied when booking all five lectures (£45 on site; £36 concessions)
This lecture is one in a series of five that takes as its inspiration the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. The series explores the stories of each queen – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr – in the wider historical and societal context of 16th Century Europe.

The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is one of the most remarkable in history – a long courtship followed by a shotgun wedding and then a coronation, ending just short of three years later when a husband’s passion turned to such malevolent hatred that he simply wanted his wife gone. Missing from most accounts is how the turbulent nature of Anne and Henry’s relationship was tied almost completely to the major events of international politics at one of the great turning points of British and European history. This was a marriage that convulsed not just a nation, but a whole continent. In this lecture, John Guy and Julia Fox explore the most infamous of Henry’s marriages, drawing on new archival documents, startling artefactual discoveries and reinterpretations of long-misunderstood sources, to unearth the truth of these two extraordinary lives and their tumultuous times.

Suzannah Lipscomb in-conversation
Friday 6 September 2024
19.00-20.00
£15 on site (£12 concessions), booking essential
Tudor historian and broadcaster, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, explores the historiography of Henry VIII’s Queens, offering an engaging and sensitive critique of the varying perspectives that have been applied to their biographies over the centuries since their deaths. Considering the women’s afterlives – and the popularity of this subject amongst the British public and historians alike – the conversation will also provide a chance to reflect on the continued need for feminist re-examinations of this period.

Six Lives Study Day: The Material Culture of the Tudor Court
Saturday 7 September 2024
11.00-17.00
£40 on site (£32 concessions), booking essential, price includes exhibition access
Drawing on the extensive variety of objects from the Tudor court as seen in Six Lives: The Story of Henry VIII’s Queens, this study day is a chance to learn from art historians, authors and academics about the historic material culture on display. From portraits and miniatures to drawings and tapestries, illuminated manuscripts and heraldic badges, the exhibition draws upon a wealth of materials to present the lives, legacies and portrayals of six women who forever changed the landscape of English history. This study day will welcome experts who will explore topics from jewellery and historic dress to paintings and drawings, revealing and celebrating the scope of artistic creativity in England at the time of the reformation and beyond.