National Gallery Reopens Sainsbury Wing After £85M Upgrade

National Gallery Reopens Renovated Sainsbury Wing

The National Gallery in London has officially reopened its Sainsbury Wing following a major £85 million redevelopment. The changes come as part of the Gallery’s bicentenary celebration, known as NG200, and aim to improve the visitor experience through better accessibility, updated interiors, and new display layouts.

The renovated entrance now links more smoothly with Trafalgar Square and includes a brighter, more open lobby area. Visitors will notice more intuitive routes through the gallery, along with clearer signage and improved lighting throughout. These updates are designed to help people better navigate the space while enjoying its world-class art collection.

Inside, the number of artworks on display in the Sainsbury Wing has nearly doubled. The Gallery now features more than 1,000 paintings in carefully grouped sections, with restored frames and better presentation of key pieces. Some of the most iconic works on display include Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks and the medieval Wilton Diptych, both now positioned to create more striking visual moments for visitors.

This refurbishment is just one part of a larger plan to make the National Gallery more welcoming and accessible to all. By redesigning key public areas and enhancing how the artwork is shown, the Gallery hopes to make visits more engaging for new and returning audiences alike.

Masterpieces on Display in the Revamped Sainsbury Wing

The Wilton Diptych

One of the National Gallery’s greatest treasures is this portable diptych, dated around 1395–1399, painted on two hinged oak panels, which shows King Richard II kneeling before the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, with English saints—Edward the Confessor, Edmund the Martyr, and John the Baptist—presenting him. The background is richly gilded and the bright blue of lapis lazuli makes an impression. As an early instance of medieval devotional art in England, it is historically important and visually thrilling.

The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci

The London version is one of two by Leonardo, and painted before 1508, is presented in a quiet, cave-like atmosphere. The work consists of the infant Jesus, the Virgin Mary, an angel and John the Baptist. The forms and tones are artistically blurred by a technique known as sfumato, which softens the transition between figures and tone, so there is a feeling of delicacy and life. This painting now occupies a position facing the Wilton Diptych to provide both a contrast of art – and subject matter – and a dramatic juxtaposition!

The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Pollaiuolo

Situated within the dramatic central enfilade, the colorful altarpiece shows the saint bound to a tree and shot with arrows. The painting was just restored, and the resplendent colors and dramatic narrative effect are fully released in the newly designed gallery environment, a fine example of the Gallery's investiture in conservation and thematic display.

The Burlington Cartoon (Leonardo da Vinci’s only surviving large-scale drawing)

This extraordinary drawing, placed in the dedicated chapel-like room behind the Virgin of the Rocks, is a depiction of Christ's baptism and is still in the space it was first conceived. The inclusion of the drawing helps reinforce the Gallery's aim to bring back works in meaningful architectural arrangements.

How These Works Reflect the Wing’s Redesign

The newly redesigned Sainsbury Wing provides a carefully designed visual story for these pieces. The new gallery holds paintings by over 1,000 artists, organized by theme and period to clearly highlight relationships of artists, painters, and art movement. The Wilton Diptych, once hidden cupboard, now sits in a prominent display case; Virgin of the Rocks invites conversation; the Pollaiuolo and Burlington display cases evoke gestures toward narrative and sacred art. 

Additionally, this curatorial structure is part of the NG200, the gallery's 200th anniversary project, in part, to showcase a different way of experiencing the collection. Iconic works were rehung to improve sightlines, re-frame original thinking, and deepen visitors' relationships with the history of Western painting. 

New Security Measures and National Outreach

In addition to the developments in the physical location of the Gallery, it has also added strict new security policies. The new security measures were introduced following a series of protests related to climate issues which targeted major works of art from Europe, such as Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which is housed in the Gallery. In response to the protests, visitors are no longer allowed to take in any liquids unless it is for medical purposes, or infant formula. Bags are also getting checked, and they have installed walk-through metal detectors at entry points.

NG200 doesn’t just include the renovation of the Sainsbury Wing of the Gallery, but also new projects, such as a new education centre, a supporters’ lounge and a research hub for scholars, students and the public to use. All of these projects will be completed over the following months.

Alongside the tangible improvements in London, the National Gallery is also going to share the impact of its bicentenary throughout the rest of the UK. The NG 200 project is lending significant artworks from its collection to museums and galleries outside of London for the first time, as part of its goverment-funded celebrations. The Welsh gallery is hosting Canaletto's The Stonemason's Yard, which had been lent by the Gallery to keep safe as the Second World War broke out, and which marked a return to Wales and a link to previous time. 

The National Gallery is determined to share its collections widely with people wherever they live in the UK, and in support of this objective, and to widen access to art, a mix of refurbished gallery space and a new national extension of its aim to engage across the UK will be designated under the guise of NG200. The National Gallery intends to continue working broadly with communities, and with new goals reach out into the future of British cultural heritage.

Image Source: Wikipedia