Van Gogh at the National Gallery - some practical pointers you'll wish you knew before you went

This is about the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers Exhibition at the National Gallery - from a different perspective.

I'm not going to review the exhibition per se - instead I'm highlighting 

• PRACTICAL ISSUES for those wanting to visit it.
• Plus a little bit about the exhibition - and other reviews
• AT THE END: For those who want to know more about Van Gogh and his drawings and paintings: a LONG list of previous blog posts I've written about Van Gogh on this blog over nearly two decades.

The Practical Issues

The View of the Sunflowers

FACT: Everybody wants to see this exhibition. 

1. Booking is a challenge
2. Queuing to get in is a challenge
3. Navigating the exhibition is a challenge!! Everybody has got a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"
4. Getting a cup of tea afterwards is not straightforward!

#1 TIP:  BOOKING - Don't assume you can visit when you want to

This is a VERY popular exhibition which means:

• you can't walk up and buy a ticket
• it's SOLD OUT on very many days and at very many times in the short term future. 
• they're keeping very strict control about how and when tickets are allocated.

The exhibition closes on 19 JANUARY 2025. 

At the moment, tickets are "available" for dates until 8 December 2024 for non-Members. (i.e. at the moment you cannot book for the Christmas Holidays - I'd recommend not visiting at this time in any case.)

EXCEPT the screens indicate they're very nearly booked up for non-Members

November 2024 - almost 100% booked up for all non-members

Tickets are continuing to book up very fast.  

• Mornings are booking up particularly fast (i.e. by the crowd who come to London for the day, see an exhibition, have lunch, do some shopping, go home)
• In general avoid the middle of the day and early afternoon
• If you are flexible, I'd check out the more 'unpopular times'
• In terms of time, allow at least an hour to view the exhibition. If you want to go round twice (which I'd recommend for all serious fans) you need longer
• However you also need to allow at least another hour to get in. (see queuing below)

In terms of times, if you get the option, I'd recommend 

• avoid the middle of the day.
• Note that Sunday does not get booked up as fast as other days.
• Morning is ideal for avoiding all those people who are lingering long from previous entry times

We went Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it. Not overly crowded, no queue and we could spend time looking at each painting. Plenty of seating if needed.

Liz Wyatt

This is the link to BOOKING TICKETS. 

There is a major bonus for all those, like me, who are Friends of the National Gallery.

• it doesn't cost me anything to get in (although the booking process is confusing and the ticket price does not get knocked off until the end when booking)
• I can go more than once. Last weekend I booked to go back on the 10 December early morning
• Tickets are reserved for members

I do NOT recommend booking for 

• children or 
• anybody who is not a dedicated enthuisiast 
• who is also prepared to put up with the booking issues, the queues and the challenges once you get in!

#2 TIP: You'll be in a queue for A VERY LONG TIME

You are NOT going to just walk in just before your entry time.

I should have taken a photo of the very, very long queues

• via the Getty Entrance - on the level of Trafalgar Square at the front of the building - for members and all those who have tickets. Near where the buskers sing. Everybody seemed to be clutching their paper printout of their electronic digital tickets!
• up the steps to the main entrance for those who are not members. I can only assume they're coming to see the rest of the Gallery or are not aware they should have bought a ticket in advance!!

You cannot get access to the NG via the Sainsbury Entrance because that is closed at the moment.

You need to start queuing well before your entry time. Do not be late as you're only allowed a certain amount of time to be late

PS If you've seen any of the pics of those queuing to vote in the US, that gives you some idea.....

PPS When you get in, you'll still be in a queue - but this time it's to see the paintings!

#3 TIP: The exhibition is large - but is also very crowded

This means lots of queues to see paintings and drawings and viewing is not ideal

Found it very crowded not easy to stand back and look at pictures

Val Davies 

Panoramic view of the gallery with the sunflowers and the chair
at 3pm

It's a bit like navigating motorways when they've closed down a lane.

Everybody seems to have a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"

Bottom line, there's a lot of people in this exhibition who are 

• not used to crowded exhibitions. 
• not from the UK - with different concepts re queuing

They're like learner drivers who have just passed their test and are on the motorway for the first time

• apt to go slower than you might like
• not very keen on overtaking

So many people taking several photos of each painting. Some of them were only looking at them through a screen. It was hot, crowded and uncomfortable. Given it had cost me about £70 for train tickets on top of the entry charge, it was a rather disappointing experience - hard to concentrate when you're struggling for a view. Anne

Working out where you need to be is the key to making progress, otherwise you'll spend most of your time queuing to see the next painting.

What I did after viewing one painting was 

• backed out
• looped forward of the next painting
• cut back as near as I could to the actual painting
• waited for an opportunity to take my photo
• backed up to view
• repeat

I should maybe draw a diagram?

I actually found it easier quite often to position myself behind people's heads and view the painting from a better distance. I don't recommend getting right up close as you don't appreciate the painting as much - even if you get a better photograph

I've been around twice, and that is the minimum I would suggest in order to appreciate the extent of this exhibition. I'm going to go again, there are a few favourites I want to linger at...  Pamela Prellar

View of the Gardens

#4 TIP: Getting a cup of tea afterwards

Once you get out (via the gift shop!), you really want a sit down and a cup of tea to digest it before going on to whatever else you're doing.

All the catering facilities within the National Gallery are mad busy because of the loss of the Sainsbury Wing Facilities.

If you want a cup of tea and some time out, I'd recommend exiting and going 

• either to the cafe in the crypt of St Martins
• or the Audrey Green Cafe at the street level of the National Portrait Gallery

Reviews of the Exhibition

Reviews of the Exhibition by newspapers and journals

• Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers review – a riveting rollercoaster ride from Arles to the stars | Jonathan Jones | The Guardian 5 STARS
• Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers review – eye-aching, heartbreaking and unmissable | The Guardian 5 STARS
• The Big Review: Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers at the National Gallery, London | The Art Newspaper 5 STARS
• Van Gogh: ‘Poets and Lovers’ | Time Out - 5 STARS 

Summary review by me

• It's got a lot of great paintings - and drawings - by Van Gogh - but not all of the most famous ones
• It's very well organised with distinct sections / themes
• Introduction
• The Garden: Poetic Interpretations
• The Yellow House: An Artist's Home
• Montmajour: A series (mainly drawings)
• Decoration
• Variations on a Theme
• It's well hung in terms of related paintings eg. the drawing and the painting or time periods
• I saw a lot of people queuing up to see paintings which they can see anytime this exhibition is not on - in the National Gallery - for free!
• I'd very much advise all UK people to focus their time and attention on the paintings they're never ever going to see again - because they've come from the other side of the world!

More about Van Gogh

Garden with weeping tree, Arles, 1888
Vincent Van Gogh
The Menil Collection, Houston

You can read more about Van Gogh on this blog. 

My Van Gogh Project

When I first started it I did a major project on Van Gogh - and art history never goes out of date!

• Introduction to the Van Gogh Project
• Van Gogh Project: the economic impact of Van Gogh Drawings
• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2007) - This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials and how they influenced his style. This is one of the most popular blog posts on my blog. I rather think a link to this has crept into the resources of some lesson plans about teaching drawing!
• Van Gogh: More About Drawing (2007) - Links to websites which provide a very useful perspective on Van Gogh's approach to drawing
• Van Gogh: Drawing Landscapes (2007) - More about Van Gogh and Drawing - this post focuses on his landscape drawings.
• Van Gogh: Drawing Figures, Portraits and Self-Portraits (2007) - At one stage in his career, Van Gogh hoped to be a portrait painter in Paris.
• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques | Golden Oldie #4: Van Gogh and Drawing - art media and techniques
• MAMA #2: All about Vincent Van Gogh on his birthday
• The Real Van Gogh - Portraits (2010) - This post highlights what I learned about Van Gogh's portrait painting from the RA exhibition - and the context of Van Gogh's letters.
• The Real Van Gogh - Orchards and Blossom (2010) - Van Gogh was very interested in Japanese art. Blossom time meant the countryside around about Arles became for him the western equivalent
• Van Gogh and the Yellow House in Arles (2010) - One of the joys of visiting the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London is being able to see the painting of the yellow house
• Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings (Taschen) - This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) represents a rarity in art history: a detailed monograph on his life and art combined with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings.

Post from The Art of the Landscape 

• Van Gogh's Palette 1882
• Van Gogh's Perspective Frame

Flowers and gardens by Van Gogh

• Flowers in Art - and Van Gogh #1 (2007) - Copying the paintings of other artists in order to learn new skills is an age old tradition and one in which Van Gogh himself followed
• Flowers in Art: Van Gogh #2 - Sunflowers and the value of repetition (2007) - Van Gogh painted a series of sunflowers. Initially four in Arles - two of which he hung in Gauguin's bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles and then subsequently another three which were copies.
• Hokusai, Van Gogh and the iris paintings - Van Gogh's iris paintings were produced while he was resident in an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France.
• Gardens in Art: Drawings and Paintings by Van Gogh (2007) - I've very much enjoyed doing the research for images, information and links about the drawings and paintings Van Gogh made of gardens

Miscellaneous posts about Van Gogh

• Introduction to the Van Gogh Project - about a project to study Van Gogh
• Van Gogh, colour and a colour study - Van Gogh's letters contain some 324 references to colours. The Van Gogh Musuem also has some interesting narrative about use of colour
• The Visual Translation of Japan in Late 19th-Century Paris - about the impact of Japanese prints on artists in late 19th century
• A map of Van Gogh's London - Did you know that Van Gogh lived in London for a while?
• Vincent Van Gogh's Notebooks - about an old BBC programme
• Compilation - Van Gogh's Sunflowers on Facebook Live
• Five Van Gogh Sunflower paintings on Amazon Live on 14th August 2017
• Hockney on Van Gogh and The Joy of Nature (2019)

Other Exhibitions

• If you missed Van Gogh in Britain at the Tate (2019) - about the images in the major exhibition of Van Gogh's artwork done in Britain. Drawings and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh are also included in an album attached to my public Facebook Page titled Van Gogh and Britain
• The Real Van Gogh at the Royal Academy (2010) - a landmark exhibition which I will never ever forget!
• The economic impact of Van Gogh's Drawings (2007) - It's estimated that the exhibition "Vincent Van Gogh: the Drawings" generated $251 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York
• Van Gogh and John Updike - a review - a wonderful essay/review by John Updike of the 2005 exhibition of Van Gogh Drawings at the Met. in New York
• Van Gogh's Bedrooms in Chicago 

Other videos

• Vincent Van Gogh's Notebooks Dec 10, 2014
• Video: Vincent van Gogh at the Musée d'Orsay (2009) - Almost any of Van Gogh's paintings are worth looking at very closely. This is my video of the 18 Van Gogh paintings in the Musee d'Orsay.