London, United Kingdom

National GalleryA row of columns at the square's end

The fountain's water is blown into a fine mist by the wind; people sit on the steps, and behind the colonnade are rooms opening one into another.

At the north of the square; the steps up are the main entrance.

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PlaceLondon, United Kingdom

TypePainting gallery

SuitsEuropean painting

PlanAn afternoon

From the square into the galleries

London, United Kingdom — Painting gallery.

Walk over from the far end of the square first.

The square is laid out openly, two fountains in the middle; when the water falls, a gust scatters it. The row of columns to the north is not tall, with a small dome on top and wide steps that naturally slow you. Between the columns hang a few red display banners that jump against the grey stone. The square is crowded, the pigeons more at ease than the people, and often someone sits by the steps eating. Look back and a church spire lands exactly at one side of the colonnade.

Inside, the light drops at once. Room opens after room, walls painted deep red or dark green, frames close together with just enough distance to step back and take it all in. Someone sits still on a bench; someone else stops long in front of one painting before moving. The floor sounds a little underfoot. Turn to the west rooms and the walls suddenly go pale, the windows higher, the same pictures in a different light with different complexions.

Fountain before columns — Fountain in front of the columns

Colonnade at night — The colonnade at night

A painting of this very square

The gallery holds a painting of the square outside the window: carriages, wet ground, a fine spire, loose brushwork, the sky pressed low. A few steps away, the colours almost meet the grey sky beyond the glass; walk to the window and look back, and the spire in the painting sits a hair off the real one.

A crowd under umbrellas

Another crowds a row of umbrellas, the canopies overlapping, blue-green pressed into one mass. The outlines of hats and coats are drawn finely, the faces only hinted. Look long and you see the umbrella ribs all point different ways; the whole picture is held by these diagonals, not by the faces.

The group before the rock face

Another is an arched canvas: several figures gathered before a dark rock face, the central one's gesture frozen mid-air, light through a stone crack. There is no clear line between figures and stone; the further out you look, the darker it gets. The canvas itself narrows to a pointed arch at the top, taking more wall than a usual square frame.

Route

An afternoon in London

Do not set it on a train day; stay a night in London, give the next afternoon to this quarter, and still catch another part of the city in the morning.

An afternoon that does not slip away

The collection is deep; choose a wing rather than all of it.

Before you go

Trafalgar Square is the landmark; arrive by mid-afternoon.

Light

West rooms change the pictures' colour.

After

The river is a short walk south.

Plan this into a London stay

Tell us the days in London and we can talk through how an afternoon here fits with the rest of the city.

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