BP Portrait Award at the NPG

Last night I attended a really fun London blogger meet up at the National Portrait Gallery in the West End. I love visiting museums and galleries, I’ve worked in museums since University and always spent my weekends (pre-children) catching up on the latest exhibitions. I’ve been fortunate to see some great exhibitions lately, including The Vikings at the British Museum, Dennis Hopper at the Royal Academy and British Folk Art at Tate Britain. We met up at the NPG to look round the BP Portrait Award 2014.

BP Portrait Award at the NPG

The BP Portrait Award showcases fifty-five of the most outstanding and innovative new portraits from around the world. From informal and personal studies of friends and family to revealing images of famous faces, the exhibition features a variety of styles and approaches to the contemporary painted portrait. The works on display, selected from a record-breaking 2,377 entries, include the winner of the £30,000 first prize as well as the work of the BP Young Artist 2014 and the BP Travel Award 2013 winners. The images were unusual, beautiful and inspiring and it was hard to believe that some of them weren’t photographs.

BP Portrait Award and families

You might think that galleries are only for the adults but you couldn’t be more wrong! This summer families can explore this year’s exhibition with the free Family Trail illustrated by Jenni Desmond. The Trail includes a range of activities inspired by the portraits on display.

Monday 28th July – Friday 8th August, 11.30-16.00
Family Art Workshop – 2 weeks of drop-in and ticketed activities inspired by the exhibition

Monday 4th August, 11.30 and 14.30
Join Jenni Desmond for a workshop on characterisation.

The BP Portrait Award is on at the National Portrait Gallery until the 21st September. Admission is free. You can find out more about their fun activities for families on their website.