We enjoy working collaboratively with partners and welcome any ideas or feedback you may have on the exhibition and how it could evolve if we worked together.
Photos
Credits / Image Information
Images 1 - 4: The Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Images 5 - 6: The Worcester Museum of Art, United Kingdom
Description
Available from October/November 2023, this exhibition will present masterpieces from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, to explore the role of love in the creation of some of the greatest masterpieces of Western art. For the first time an exhibition will argue that ideas of love and desire have been critical to the development of portraiture since the genre’s emergence in the English Renaissance. Portraits provide visual records of relationships, are used to memorialise dead or absent lovers, and have often been given as love tokens.
At the heart of this exhibition are a series of real-life love stories, from Van Dyck to the present, that are grouped thematically. Each of the love stories sheds light on a different aspect of romantic love and the role of portraits within it, from images which capture an artist’s obsession with their muse to those that record tragic love affairs or celebrate the triumph of love against the odds.
VR and App Content
Collections
Photographs
Paintings Drawings & Prints
General Information
Created In
2021
Available Package Options
Collection and interpretation
Technical Requirements
High security
High conservation
More Details About Technical Requirements
Approximately 110 works
minimum 500 - 700 m2
Languages
English
Other
Additional Information
Please contact pvelge@npg.org.uk for further information
Venues
Past and Future Venues
June - October 2023, Europe
February - May 2023, Baker Museum, Florida, The United States
September 2022 - January 2023, The Hermitage Museum, The Netherlands
November 2021 - March 2022, Worcester Museum, United Kingdom
Extra Info
Highlights
Curatorial excellence
Treasure collection
Highlights Details
Highlight works include portraits by Van Dyck, Sir Peter Lely, Gainsborough, Bloomsbury Group Artist Duncan Grant and portraits of well loved figures such as David Beckham, The Beatles, Naomi Campbell, Mick Jagger and the British Royal Family.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Lucy Peltz, Head of Collections and Displays (Tudor to Regency) at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG).
The exhibition can be translated into any language.
