Building the nation's collection: from the first painting to today's world-class collection
History
Explore the history of the National Gallery – from the origins of the collection to the present day
History of the collection
The Turner Bequest
Read about the largest ever donation of works of art to the National Gallery
Directors
Directors of the Gallery past and present
The Bridgewater syndicate
How three aristocrats revolutionised art collecting in the UK
Collectors and benefactors
Explore the lives of key figures behind the collection
The building
Find out more about the building and its history
The Gallery in wartime
Bombs, buns and Beethoven – how the Gallery survived the war
Whereabouts of paintings
List of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945