Instead of browsing the National Gallery aimlessly, immerse yourself in the techniques and history behind some of the world’s most famous artists with a professional guide. You’ve heard of Van Gogh and da Vinci, but what do you really know about them? Learn about the painters behind the paintings. Browse your favorite works by other masters like Botticelli, Monet, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. If none of those names mean anything to you, that will change by the end of the tour. The National Gallery houses paintings dating back to the 1300s all the way up through the 1900s, so there is no shortage of choice. Visit Jan van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait” or something more familiar like Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” to understand the full scope of work on display. Learn essential information and history needed to appreciate the more than 2,300 paintings on display at one of the world’s most visited museums.
Jake was a great guide! Full of knowledge and great information about the artist and backgrounds. He was very patient and engaging. Highly recommend for an enjoyable and efficient experience.
This was a great tour. I loved that it was a small group and provided a unique experience. Jake was the best tour guide ever! He was very knowledgeable and what a fantastic storyteller. He absolutely made the art come alive for me. I learned so much
Becky is extremely knowledgeable about both the art as well as the historical context of the paintings. She is very articulate and outgoing, and thoroughly enjoys the tour guide role.
We did the private tour with Caroline. WOW, did she exceed our expectations. She was the platonic form of art tour guide. So knowledgeable, gracious, charming and empathic. Clearly a llife-long learner she's so incredibly knowledgeable, but remarked a couple of times, 'I really need to learn more about that." Like any master of her craft, she is not finished becoming. Especially noteworthy was her kindness. One member of our three person party wasn't feeling well and needed to break off. A less extraordinary guide would have just accepted that and moved on, and there would have been nothing wrong with that. But Caroline checked in, and adjusted the tour and her teaching to accommodate that person, which was also appreciated by the other two family members. If there's any room for improvement, we don't see it, though this masterful woman might not agree.
Amazing tour for our group of 8 delving into the depths of the Gallery with our guide Jake. It was just the right amount of time to fulfill all of us. Very informative and greatly paced. Outstanding tour—Babylon is the greatest!
The guide, James?, provided an extraordinary historical perspective of the National and what to see in each piece of art we viewed. Others registered did not show up resulting in a private tour.
Stephanie was an art historian and very helpful in explaining the major works of art. Very passionate about making sure whole group was engaged.
Excellent guide Interesting and very helpful
Becky L was an amazing guide. It was our youngest son’s first big museum visit and she did a great job keeping him (and us all) engaged. Both our kids had a million questions and she had great answers to them all. Highly recommend!
Becky knew so much about the exhibits. Our kids asked a million questions and she always had a great answer. She kept the kids engaged the whole time. I especially loved her amazing response to our son claiming that he could do modern art. Very smart!
James was very knowledgeable and entertaining
Small guided tour with a knowledgeable art history buff. Very friendly, engaging, and knew the history and many techniques of each artists’ works
Steph was a master at sharing the history within the gallery and we drank every moment of our time learning new things about art and culture!! Thank you
Matilda was an absolute dream guiding us through the museum! Her knowledge of art is incredible. Communication was perfect, highly recommend
Guide Stef was very knowledgeable and skilled at describing the work of art and its place in history.
Becky was an excellent well informed guide to this incredible museum. I would highly recommend this tour and Becky to navigate this iconic museum.
We enjoyed an excellent tour with Sheldon at the National Gallery. He appeared to use a social cultural approach when he explained the selected works of art. He then wove the facts at hand into really fascinating antidotes about both the artist and the times they lived in. It was educational as well as entertaining and highly memorable. The afternoon flew by.
Becky is an amazingly knowledgeable guide - she knows an extraordinary amount about art, art history and the National Gallery collections.
Our guide was astoundingly knowledgeable - absolutely wonderful!
We had an amazing tour with Steph! She was both incredibly knowledgeable about art history and also very passionate about the subject. That combo made for a wonderful afternoon exploring the museum. I highly recommend!!
Very entertaining and enthusiastic tour by Stephanie K.For non-experts she made the history of art very relevant. A great tour.
Our guide was wonderful and the time passed to quickly. She was engaging and very knowledgeable. I was so glad I took this tour.
Matilda was great - her subject knowledge and ability to tell us about the art and to tell artist’s stories made this tour five stars!
While in London we wanted to visit the National Museum and have experience with private museum tours (The Louvre) so decided to use Viator again. What a great decision! Sheldon gave us the tour of a lifetime, that we will never forget. We told him to show us his favorite pieces and he provided us with amazing commentary on pieces we never would have noticed on our own. He was humorous and informative, so knowledgable about the museum itself and what it contains. His commentary was even enjoyed by an outside patron of the museum who overheard our tour. The fee is a bargain considering what Sheldon provides.
This is 100% worth a visit. Very busy but the building is so big you can easily move around. Such fantastic art work in a beautiful building. Even the building is a work of art. I went in August but plan to go back in October not a problem for us as we live in London.
Bec was our tour guide. Bec's knowledge of the art pieces was outstanding and extremely well presented. The tour was 2 1/2 hours and every moment of the tour was informative, educational and provided my husband, Robert and I with a greater insight into these well known pieces and the much deeper meaning behind these pieces. We would do this tour in a heartbeat again. Thank you Bec for being such a wonderful guide. A must do tour for not only experienced art lovers but also relatively novice art lovers like my husband and myself. Best Wishes Bec. Julie and Robert Croker, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Laurence was an excellent guide. Was fun, interesting and different about the way he show us the National Gallery. My 2 daughters (15 and 17) were so interesting in the experience thank to Laurence
Jake was knowledgeable, engaging, and you could tell passionate about the art and city. Highly recommend.
Amazing tour of the National Gallery. Becky was a fantastic guide, very thoughtful in looking after the group and had amazing knowledge and great entertaining commentary! Loved it.
Stephanie, our tour guide was wonderful ! She gave us so much information and was very knowledgeable about the art work and artists I can’t eat it
Laurence M provided a wonderful tour of the National Gallery. This was the last major art museum of the world on our bucket list and were not disappointed by the great space, the great art and Laurence's insight and enthusiasm for the art and the history. Highly highly recommend.
This museum is full of artistic treasures created by a wide variety of artists such as Monet, Leonardo, da Vinci, Picasso and Michelangelo. You don’t have to be an art buff to be blown away by this very large collection of artwork. I highly recommend it. An admission is free.
Normally in a museum I just wander around. Then I found when the entire family attends it is well worth hiring a guide - and our guide Jamie was GREAT!! He brought his iPad to show additional information, he asked us questions and our opinions, and gave us an Art History "class" we won't forget. He was so good that one of the paintings referred to a song, and he said if he knew it he was sing it for us!!
A fair bit of walking, but very worth the effort! A tour which shows many of the best or otherwise interesting works of Art, in a relaxed and sometimes humerous way. Given a lot of the back stories of the artists and their works; highlighted many things we would not otherwise have noticed. A great insight.
Wonderful highlites tour with Lawrence. Great to see the known and unknown artists and the background stories. Lawrence is a Londoner and with his antidotes, a wonderful guide/professional art docent.
Jamie was an outstanding guide. He took us to key paintings and showed me features - detail, lighting, perspective- that I would not see on my own.
Amazing tour! Steph was incredibly knowledgeable, informative and entertaining. We had the best time and learned so much. Fantastic!
We could not have been more impressed with the guided tour of the National Gallery. Matilda H, our guide, was highly informed and so uniquely professional and engaging in her approach. She was able to provide highly informed commentary and made the tour an exceptional experience. This was a present for my cousin's 60th birthday, and we were so thrilled with the calibre of the small group tour. I could not recommend this more highly and will certianly be using this company again.
Our tour guide Matilda was excellent. She was very knowledgeable and made it very pleasant. I really enjoy it.
Becky was an amazing tour guide. Her knowledge of art history is extensive and she took us through the gallery to show us and compare/contrast several major works of art. We learned a lot and it help us even recognize several pieces at Windsor Castle the next day. This tour does not take you to every piece of art, that would take days. Everyone should understand this and trust the tour guide to lead you to wonderful pieces!
In just 2.5 hours, I learned more about art than I learned in nearly 60 years! Steph was fun, passionate, engaging and really allowed us to see artwork on a whole new light. It was a master class in the National Gallery but a heck of a lot more fun. Highly recommend.
Becky was outstanding, we learned so much !! An excellent experience at the National Gallery ! She provided a chronology that explained much about art in general and tge art she selected in particular.
The guided tour exceeded our expectations. We learned a lot about art with Alex's explanations, who is very pleasant to explain and knows a lot. I highly recommend the tour.
We had an amazing time! Alex was so knowledgeable and a fantastic guide. We learned quite a bit but the way he communicated information was interesting and digestible. We had a great expierence and won’t attend a museum without a guide again!
Stephanie was incredible! Very knowledgeable art historian with excellent communication skills. The journey from Medieval art to Impressionism was smooth & connected. 5 Stars!!
Matilda was an outstanding art historian, guiding our small group through the National Gallery. It was both an educational as well as entertaining tour; would highly recommend.
Matilda provided an excellent tour through the museum. She was both well versed and animated in her descriptions and story telling.
When on limited time in London and wanting to visit the National Gallery I highly recommend this tour. You could spend all day at the gallery and not really know what to spend time looking at the most, tiring yourself out. Matilda walked us through some of the most important pieces accompanied by stories, rich knowledge and genuine enthusiasm for the paintings themselves. Matilda was excellent. I spent a little time further after the tour finished as a bonus and was thoroughly satisfied, learning a lot about the collection.
Jake, our guide was great he gave us fantastic information on both history and background on many of the paintings. Overall a very interesting and wonderful tour
Our tour guide Matilda was fantastic! She is extremely knowledgeable and presented the information in a way that was entertaining and informative. I highly recommend if you take this tour you request this amazing guide!
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