Talk by Sir Gabriele Finaldi, Director, National Gallery London
2026-02-25 18:30 - 19:30 UTC | Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum, YORK, YO1 7FR
Sir Gabriele Finaldi will give a talk ‘The National Gallery: A Growing 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

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Normandy Tour - Monet and Giverny
2026-05-24 - 2026-05-27
This four-day coach tour of Normandy has been arranged for the Friends by Travel Editions and includes visits to sites associated with Impressionism and Monet, including Giverny, Rouen and Honfleur. Accommodation will be at the Radison Blu Hotel, Rouen. The tour starts at Ashford in Kent where we will join the coach for the journey to Dover and then take the ferry to Calais. Ashford is easily reached by frequent trains from St Pancras Station, which is a 5 minute walk from Kings Cross. The cost of travel from York to Ashford is not included.
See the Travel Editions flyer for more information and the itinerary. Please note that the mention of Eurotunnel under the heading ‘Included in the price’ is a mistake – travel is by ferry.

Click here for the Travel Editions flyer

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Please note that there is a £20 per person admin fee to cover our time and costs for arranging this tour.

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Friends tour to Sussex
2026-09-28 - 2026-10-02
This five-day coach tour to Sussex has been arranged for the Friends by Travel Editions. Departing from York Memorial Gardens on Monday 28 September, we will visit Wardown House Museum & Gallery en route. Accommodation will be at the four-star Holiday Inn on Brighton Sea Front. The tour will include Farleys House & Towner Eastbourne Museum & Gallery, Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft, Charleston in Lewes and Charleston Firle, Berwick Church & Monk’s House. We will visit the Henry Moore Studios on our way back to York on Friday 2 October.
The cost is £995 pp including accommodation, breakfasts, 2 dinners, 1 lunch and all entrance fees as per the itinerary.

Click here for the Travel Editions flyer

Download a booking form

Please note that there is a £20 per person admin fee to cover our time and costs for arranging this tour.

Click to pay the admin fee
