The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered in National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery will display The Real Tudors: King and Queens Rediscovered. Visitors will have the chance to rediscover the real Tudor monarchs through a really unique and complete presentation of their portraits.

Real Tudors

The exhibition will help to understand the visitors why and how those portraits were made with a recent research commenced as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain project. At the exhibition visitors will also meet a ‘real’ portrait of Lady Jane Grey from the sixteenth century and they can also explore a commemorative portrait of Jane which is dating back to the Elizabethan period. The monarch includes many kings and queens portraits such as Henry VII which is one of the oldest portraits on display or Elizabeth I who was Henry VIII only surviving child from Anna Boleyn. The exhibition The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered will be the base of a larger exhibition organised in partnership with Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, in 2015. The exhibition will take place at the National Portrait Gallery in central London. The exhibition will open its gates from 12th September 2014 until 1st March 2015.

Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair

Who hasn’t heard about the one most famous sex symbol of the 20th century, Marilyn Monroe? The number one pin-up girl, who passed away too young, shows her charm again to the public. If one visits the National Portrait Gallery in London, between 29 September 2012 and 24 March 2013, can see the rebirth of Marilyn Monroe in a wonderful exhibition.

The reason of this occasion, which is the first time in the history of the National Portrait Gallery when they make an exhibition about Marilyn Monroe, is the 50th anniversary of her death. However the star was only once in the United Kingdom, English people have decided to find the relationship between Marilyn and the Great Britain, and their results are amazing.

Visitors can see the famous British photographer, Cecil Beaton’s pictures about Marilyn in New York in 1956, but there are lot of other photos from Hollywood, made by Anthony Beauchamp and Baron.

Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair

September 29th, 2012 – March 24th, 2013
National Portrait Gallery

Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair - National Portrait Gallery

The Queen in Art and Image

This exhibition has been on display since May 17th, but since we have not written about it yet, it was time for us to do so. The title of this interesting exhibition is: The Queen: Art and Image. In this exhibition you can see pictures, images and art connected to Queen Elizabeth II, and you will get to know her much better after visiting this exhibition. The venue for it all is the National Portrait Gallery in London, which is one of the most popular museums in the capital of England. For some people British Museum and the National Gallery are the highlights during their stay in London, but if you pay a visit to the Portrait Gallery you might be surprised, because it is a great place to visit.

The Queen: Art and Image
National Portrait Gallery
May 17th – October 21st

Queen Elizabeth II

Official press information on the exhibition (source):
To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this landmark exhibition brings together some of the most remarkable and resonant images of Elizabeth II made during her reign.

From formal painted portraits to commissioned photographs and from press images to works by celebrated contemporary artists, the exhibition charts the evolving representation of one of the most portrayed people of all time, and the influence of this imagery on changing perceptions of the monarchy.

Exploring the startling range of artistic creativity that the Queen has inspired, the exhibition also reveals the radical changes in portraiture and profound social developments since the 1950s. Featured photographers and artists include Cecil Beaton, Pietro Annigoni, Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Lucian Freud, Thomas Struth and Gerhard Richter.

Lucian Freud portraits – National Portrait Gallery

Lucian Freud once said that ‘I’ve always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It’s people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.’

That is the background for this exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery in London which can be seen between February 9th and May 27th in 2012. More information on the exhibition can be found under the image (the official press information on the exhibition).

Lucian Freud portraits
February 9th – May 27th, 2012
National Portrait Gallery

Lucian Freud in National Portrait Gallery

More information on the exhibition:
Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011) was one of the most important and influential artists of his generation. Paintings of people were central to his work and this major exhibition, spanning over seventy years, is the first to focus on his portraiture.

Produced in close collaboration with the late Lucian Freud, the exhibition concentrates on particular periods and groups of sitters which illustrate Freud’s stylistic development and technical virtuosity. Insightful paintings of the artist’s lovers, friends and family, referred to by the artist as the ‘people in my life’, will demonstrate the psychological drama and unrelenting observational intensity of his work.

Featuring over 100 works from museums and private collections throughout the world, some of which have never been seen before, this is an unmissable opportunity to experience the work of one of the world’s greatest artists.

London museums

Sandra Lousada: Work and Performance – National Portrait Gallery

If you are interested in Sandra Lousada this free exhibition in the Bookshop Gallery of the National Portrait Gallery, you better head off to London sometime before May 20th, 2012. This display celebrates Sandra Lousada’s fifty-year career as a photographer. It includes highlights from forty recently acquired portraits, including several that are illustrated in her book, Public Faces Private Places: Portraits of Artists 1956–2008, as well as recently rediscovered works and shown for the first time a series of contact sheets.

Sandra Lousada: Work and Performance
National Portrait Gallery
November 28, 2011 – May 20, 2012

Museums in London