The National Portrait Gallery in London has reopened to the public after an astonishing £41 million renovation. Closed since 2020, the building has been extensively redesigned by Jamie Fobert Architects and heritage specialists Purcell. “It’s the great building Londoners never knew they had,” explained Jamie Fobert. “Our job was to open it up, tie its different eras together, and give it a new public face.”

Opened in 1856, the gallery houses over 11,000 portraits of historically famous and important British people. Around 1,000 square metres of new galleries have been added and existing ones refreshed, flooding the rooms with daylight and space. Learning spaces, restaurants, a bookshop, and a public forecourt have all been created. The previous route through the building involved countless steps, but now accessible granite ramps give wheelchair users a seamless experience. “The idea was to make the experience the same for everyone,” said Fobert, “and intervene in ways that are almost imperceptible.”

The unwelcoming entrance to the gallery was given a radical overhaul too; Fobert flipped the building around, making a new entrance on the side of Charing Cross Road. Here, three gigantic new doors designed by artist Tracey Emin have been sliced into the Grade I-listed stone walls. Standing at 4 metres-high, the cast-bronze doors are decorated with 45 hand-drawn female portraits. “When I arrived, I was anxious,” said Emin. “There was all these other things that were on my mind, and I totally forgot about the doors! So when I came up, I gasped – it was a big surprise and that lifted my energy.“

During the construction, several long-lost architectural features were rediscovered. One such find was made in the east wing, where a mosaic that had been buried under a suspended floor and a previously off-limits rotunda have been revealed as part of a new bar.

There has also been a major rehang of the collection, which places emphasis on interpretation and diversification to greater reflect Britain today. The 20th and 21st-century galleries now feature 48% female artists, compared with the previous 35%. New additions to the collection include the striking ‘Portrait of Mai’ painted in 1776 by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), which was jointly acquired with the J. Paul Getty Museum for £50 million this year.

The Princess of Wales reopened the gallery alongside Tracey Emin, as well as Sir Paul McCartney whose collection of personal photographs taken between 1963 and 1964 will be on display there from 28 June.