At the National Portrait Gallery, a Collection that is Unique in All the World
위치: National Portrait Gallery
주소: St. Martin's Pl, Charing Cross, London WC2H 0HE
In the light of a lantern, a young woman traces the profile of her lover on the wall, just before he is about to leave. His father, a potter in Corinth, works these lines into his clay. According to an ancient and fortunate legend, this is the origin of art itself. For thousands of years, before the invention of photography, the painted, sculpted and drawn portrait represented the only means for making distant or deceased people, somehow, become present. Over time, it acquired new functions, highlighting power and prestige, taste and virtue, beauty and emotion. In London, a museum celebrates the art of the portrait with an incredible collection that spans centuries. The National Portrait Gallery is a treasure trove that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world, with eleven-thousand paintings, drawings, sculptures and miniatures, as well as a section dedicated to photography that gathers together over 250.000 images. It is possible to admire masterpieces from Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarts and Andy Warhol, iconic portraits of characters such as Shakespeare and Queen Victoria, photos by masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson or Helmuth Newton, right up to contemporary artist David LaChapelle - a truly remarkable repertoire of faces and characters that tell the very story of Western Civilisation.
The thin thread that binds Hockney to Piero della Francesca
Two Hockney paintings, one showing his mother and father and the other depicting his friend, will be displayed with the "thread that ties them together", Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ.
A major exhibition to celebrate the extraordinary creative production of the Golden Age of the Mughal Court during the reigns of its most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan between 1560 and 1660.
A large monographic exhibition dedicated to Tracey Emin, one of the most brilliant and controversial figures of the Young British Artists group and today a recognized and celebrated figure of contemporary English art.