BP Portrait Award 2005

Assuming that, like me, recent events aren’t going to put you off travelling around London here is an exhibition I’d recommend seeing if you’re in the capital over the summer. The BP Portrait Award 2005 is at the National Portrait Gallery just off Trafalgar Square. Although it is possible to see very small versions of the portraits online you really have to see them full size to get the full impact. Over 1000 artists entered pictures with the best 50 or so being shown in the gallery, and they really are very very good. It’s well worth a look, even if you think that portaits aren’t really your thing. If you go for a wander around the rest of National Portrait Gallery you may well bump into some other paintings you enjoy, but for me the other highlight of my visit was the computer room where you can browse any number of portraits from the NPG collection. I found some of the early cartoons quite interesting, and the fact that the computer room has big comfy leather chairs is an added bonus when you’ve been on your feet wandering around looking at art for a while. And it’s all free.