National Gallery

The National Gallery on the north side of Trafalgar Square holds around 2,300 paintings from the 13th to the 19th century, ranking among the world's great picture collections. Founded in 1824 when the British government bought the collection of banker John Julius Angerstein, it moved into William Wilkins's neoclassical building in 1838. Highlights include van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Velazquez's Rokeby Venus, Turner's Fighting Temeraire, Vermeer's A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal and van Gogh's Sunflowers. The Sainsbury Wing, opened in 1991, houses early Renaissance works. Admission to the permanent collection is free; in 2025 the gallery welcomed 4.15 million visitors. Many rooms are lit by domed skylights, showing the paintings under the daylight their makers intended.