Rhodium Private View at the reopened National Portrait Gallery

The revamped National Portrait Gallery tucked within the buzz of St Martin’s Place reopened to the public earlier this summer after the most notable redevelopment in its history. Including complete redisplay of their diverse collections, refurbishment of the building and creation of new spaces for the public to investigate and enjoy at their leisure. Rhodium hosted a special private view for its partners, clients and media. Here are some of SPHERE’s highlights 

The newly chronological reorganisation of the collections will take visitors on a journey through time. From playfully chic portraits of Kate Moss and images of the Spice Girls capturing all the baby blue velvet of the y2k era, right back centuries to majestic portraits of the Tudor times and pieces dating as far as the Middle Ages. An exploration varying from modern pop culture photography to fine paintings by renowned artists such as Lucian Freud and Laura Knight. 

In redeveloping the gallery, a main aspect that was striven to be improved upon was the diversity and representation seen in the portrait collections. With help from the CHANEL Culture Fund and Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture, the National Portrait Gallery have been able to introduce more ethnic diversity and portraits of women into their collections. With the rehang featuring 13% more women in the 20th and 21st century galleries. Continuing on a positive streak of feminism, the new bronze panelled doors feature 45 faces of women, etched by British artist Tracey Emin.