[title]
The National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing has been closed for refurbishment for two years, but is now set to reopen in May 2025. And what a relief that is, because the Sainsbury Wing housed some of London’s greatest art treasures. It was there that you could find gleaming, golden, Byzantine altarpieces, early renaissance masterpieces and the amazing Leonardo da Vinci cartoon, one of the greatest artworks in the whole city (now on loan at the Royal Academy of Arts’ ‘Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael’ exhibition).
The Sainsbury Wing (which King Charles once called a ‘monstrous carbuncle’) was added to the National Gallery in 1991, designed by postmodern architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. But only 30 years later it was deemed not fit for purpose, and a competition was held to find an architect to reboot the building. Annabelle Selldorf got the job, and has spent the past two years opening the Sainsbury Wing up to allow in more light, and more people.
The refurbed wing will allow visitors to gaze adoringly at Piero della Francesca’s ‘Baptism of Christ’, their earliest painting, in a specially designed chapel-like room. There’ll also be Paolo Uccello’s ‘The Battle of San Romano’ returning from its three-year restoration process, and a whole room dedicated to the theme of gold.
To accompany the reopening of the wing, the whole National Gallery collection is being rehung too. Quite the way to celebrate your 200th birthday.
The Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery is reopening on May 10 2025.
Can’t wait? Don’t worry, the rest of the National Gallery is still open and has some great exhibitions on.
This new London museum is officially one of Time Out’s best things to do in the world in 2025.