Sir Gabriele Finaldi will give a talk ‘Growing the National Gallery’s Collection’, followed by a conversation with Professor Charles Martindale, Chair of the Friends, about his career and role as Director of one of the greatest galleries in the world.

The National Gallery has been much in the news recently. On May 10 2024 it became 200 years old, and the bicentenary celebrations continued into 2025, including the National Treasures exhibitions across the country (York receiving Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond). Its redisplay of the entire collection was received with great enthusiasm by art critics and public alike. The Sainsbury Wing entrance has now been remodelled as the Gallery’s principal entrance, and a new Members House has been designed. More recently it has won very substantial funds for further exciting capital developments, including space for 20th-century art and a research centre. And all this at a time of massive financial challenges in the cultural sector as a whole.

Sir Gabriele has been the principal architect of these successes. His doctoral thesis at the Courtauld was on the Spanish baroque artist Ribera. In 2002 he was appointed Deputy Director for Collections and Research at the Prado in Madrid, and he has a special association with Spanish art (including Velázquez, Zurbarán, Murillo, Sorolla, Picasso). As a curator he has taken the lead in numerous exhibitions in the UK, Spain, Italy, and Belgium. He was appointed Director of the National Gallery in 2015, and knighted in 2025 for services to art and culture.

This is a rare opportunity to hear this major art-world figure.

Organisers: Moira Fulton (mfulton58@gmail.com); Charles Martindale