Portrait Award 2026: The 10 portraits I liked the most

This is a post about the ten portraits I like the best in the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery. 

At the end I say which portrait will, I think, win the Visitors' Choice Award.

Portraits hanging in the HSFK Portrait Award competition
at the National Portrait Galllery

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

I've been reviewing the Portrait Award at the NPG since 2008 (see end) - which means I've looked at a lot of top quality portraits over the last 18 years.

• After my first impression on the Awards Night Viewing, I generally know which portraits have made a big impression on me 
• Interestingly they are not necessarily the winner or even the winners.
• It's something to do with being able to see the portraits in the context of an exhibition - and next to one another
• The next morning I get to see them all over again at the Press View morning - which enables me to check out whether I still think the same
• I then get to think about the portraits again while writing about the Artists with their Paintings (which used to be one very long post (eg Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings) but this year turned into five! (See the end for links to my blog posts). This always depends on whether the artist turned up AND wore their badge so I could spot them! (Some artists have not yet worked out yet that the buttons they are given to wear can generate them publicity!)

So what follows are:

• the portraits which stuck in my head
• the portraits which made me look more closely at them
• portraits which include some clever composition and design
• the ones with interesting sitters
• the ones which generated an emotional response
• a complete absence of prizewinners - except for one which I could not exclude

I should also mention that this list excludes some very good paintings which include things I really do NOT like - my classic example being tattoos - and hence got excluded simply because of that (given the title of this post!).

I've also noticed that a lot are by women artists - which is interesting. That's not why they were chosen though.

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

There is no rationale about the order in which they are listed - except I have ordered them by size - after the one which once seen can never be forgotten

The One which stuck in my head the most

Useless, Part II, 2024 by Karin Neijenhuis

Once seen, this portrait is never forgotten. This portrait is not big but it's certainly very memorable. It may be forever be known as "the ironing board self portrait".

Useless, Part II, 2024 by Karin Neijenhuis
oil on canvas

'Domestic drama at its finest' is how Dutch painter Karin Neijenhuis describes this self-portrait. The underside of an ironing board dramatically cuts across the picture plane, portraying the sitter through an irregular angle. Neijenhuis draws our attention to a mundane household chore that is not meant to be seen, never quite finished and, as her expression reveals, often boring. Yet this work highlights how even everyday, overlooked moments can inspire meaning and humour.

I wouldn't disagree with a word of the above description.

I've never seen a portrait quite like this. I just stared at it as I came across it in the middle section of the exhibition. 

Then I started to look at it in detail - and that ironing board is a portrait of devotion to getting it right!

But what makes it so "look at me" is the subject and the design.

The Big Portraits I liked

What's Mine is Yours, 2024 by Chloe Cox

This portrait started off on Extraordinary Portraits (2024) and went on to win second prize in this year's HSFK Portrait Award which netted her £12,000.

I've since watched the episode of Extraordinary Portraits to see how the artwork was developed and that was very interesting.

portrayal of hands in
What's Mine is Yours, 2024 by Chloe Cox

I wouldn't be surprised if this portrait won the Visitors Choice Award. It's both very impressive and very empathetic.

For me, it's excellent that in a competition like this we see both

• a portrayal of older people in our community,
• AND people who have devoted a considerable part of their life to helping others (by fostering children and young people)

One of the aspects I particularly appreciated is the effort that went into getting the hands right.

Turning Thirteen, 2025 by Frances Bell

Turning Thirteen 1925 by Frances Bell

Frances Bell's portrait of her daughter reminds me very much of portraits by John Singer Sargent - who I'm a big fan of. She tends to be a tad more precise where she wants to be but she's also capable of suggestion using very little.

It's got 

• the muted background, 
• the very simple palette - with use of black, 
• the ever so elegant but slightly unusual pose 
• immaculate representation of the way clothing sits on a body - that yellow skirt is outstanding!
• attention to parts of the body which don't always get an outing - like the elbow and the feet. 

In fact, the feet are magnificent - anatomically correct and precisely right re colouration. The sort of thing only an artist who knows how to get the important things correct with very little would pay attention to.

The feet and the pleated skirt in the portrait by Frances Bell

It got this comment from a young person who studied it

I feel a connection to this portrait as it shows that familiar feeling of uncertainty that comes with being at an age in-between stages. Visibly torn between contemporary and traditional painting styles, even the unbalanced pose of the girl feels relatable, as we all feel unsure when growing up.
Holly S. 20

Diane, 2025 by Martin Jessup

One of the attractions of this portrait is who Martin persuaded to be his sitter. If you want people to like your portraits, paint interesting people!

I like artists who paint older women, the way older women are today i.e. not dressing like our parents or grandparents and very often reflecting their own panaches and style.

I just love those shoes - though I'd never wear them as I'm just not a leopard skin person! Age 71, I prefer colourful trainers!

Diane, 2025 by Martin Jessup

What I find very interesting is that acid yellow back wall. It's a very difficult colour to work into a palette. Plus I cannot remember ever seeing it in a portrait painting - and yet it works - and yet it works.

I admire people who take a chance on colour and make it work.

Madonna and Child, 2026 by Frances Featherstone

Madonna and Child, 2026 by Frances Featherstone

This one is arresting due to looking at the "sitters" (who are actually lying down) from above - however it takes a few seconds to register.

It's more a portrait of a relationship and a moment rather than a detailed portrait of both sitters. Nevertheless it captures a very special moment in both lives.

I very much liked the very controlled colour palette which accommodated an awful lot of variety in the surface interest in terms of tiles, PJs and bedlinen.

Large Medium Size Portraits

Another Day, 2026 by Sarah Quick

The strong design and limited palette made this one stand out in a room with a cacophony of colour and lots of faces looking straight at you.

Another Day, 2026 by Sarah Quick

Another Day - on the wall

My friend as he is, 2026 by S. Ross Browne

What I liked about this one is the casual flavour as if S Ross Browne had erected his easel in the street and the two of them were having an enjoyable conversation.

The fact the artist has known this man for a very long time is self-evident to me from the painting.

Also, as often happens when a black man paints a black man, the skin colour is perfection.

Plus the vehicle window is a great way of framing the subject. I love the way the window frames the portrait but not quite all of it and not quite centred.

My friend as he is, 2026 by S. Ross Browne

I found out from his Instagram account that this gentleman is called Neverett A. Eggleston III - and I loved the story I found about his family. It adds a lot of flavour to what I found on the wall as the description of this painting.

Below you can see it hanging on the wall at the end of the gallery.

My Friend as he is - on the wall

Medium Portraits

Pieta with Home Life, 2025 by Haley Hasler

This is another one of those "stop you in your tracks" + "must look at this one more carefully" sort of portraits

Haley Hasler provides intrigue and an uncommon number of items which float through the air (they were painted tied on strings) - the jumping rabbit and dormice, two slices of cream cake, a piggy bank etc

Pieta with Home Life, 2025 by Haley Hasler

This one is just very much "off the wall". Not one you can pass over quickly, if only because you want to work out what all the items are. I very much like the ambiguity. 

Then when you find out more you realise all Haley's paintings are self portraits and she likes to give them a very strong design and a very detailed context - and to leave you wondering what some of it is about.

This was what it said on the wall

Working exclusively within the genre of self-portraiture, this surreal work was one the artist, Haley Hasler, returned to several times across two years. Initially inspired by the idea of grasping a rooster while baring one breast, the composition gradually evolved to include a swarm of household objects, creating an increasingly ambiguous setting. To capture the floating objects, Hasler suspended items in the air with strings and painted them from life.

This is what I said in my earlier post 

Her self portrait paintings are very theatrical / allegorical and quite unlike any other contemporary portrait paintings I've ever seen - and I like them! I recommend a viewing of her website! 
From Portrait Award 2026 - Artists with their paintings (Self Portraits)

Stripes, 2025 by Doris Rose

Stripes, 2025 by Doris Rose

Oil on CCM copper panel, 18×24″

© Doris Rose

This one made my top ten for two main reasons:

• visually exciting with double exposure and the replicated stripes
• plus it's painted on a copper panel

I'm a fan of those who paint on panels made of metal - and like to highlight them when I come across them. There's a reason why they have been used for c. 500 years centuries by artists like Jan Brueghel the Elder and Rembrandt. Copper has a smooth finish and it's much more durable than other supports. It lends itself to those who like painting precise detail

My only reservation is about the black frame. I think another colour might have suited it better.

Small Portraits

I think this next portrait is probably the smallest portrait in the exhibition. 

This portrait by Steve Caldwell, punches way above its size and palette in terms of commanding attention and getting me to look at it very closely indeed. This is the sort of portrait which I will always remember.

However, the quality is such that it should be no surprise to anyone that Steve Caldwell is a repeat exhibitor. 

Tayo Aluko, 2026 by Steve Caldwell

Also, if you are an aspiring entrant and you like doing hyperrealistic, this is what your competition looks like!

Detail of the shirt in 
Tayo Aluko, 2026 by Steve Caldwell

Detail of the bald head in
Tayo Aluko, 2026 by Steve Caldwell

Which one would I vote for? 

Well I've not voted yet - but I'm learning towards

• either What's Mine is Yours, 2024 by Chloe Cox
• or Turning Thirteen 2025 by Frances Bell

Both painted extremities well - hands and feet - as well as heads and expressions.

Both painted larger portraits than most of those in the exhibition.

Both painted memorable portraits which hang well on the wall.

But Chloe has already got a (second) Prize in this year's exhibition and Frances has already got a very successful career as a portrait artist - so hard to choose.

However, I do think one of these two will win the Visitor's Choice Award.

Which would you choose?