National Gallery Reviews 46

Fraudulent museum.

I have booked a Lucien Freud exhibition ticket for the amount of £23 I could not make that day so I had to cancel it . They refused to refund me as per their policy
the £23 are credited to my “account”within the gallery .
I want to rebook for the 28/4 and they want to charge me extra money because is the last week of the exhibition. I have requested a refund but they said NO
Stay away from the NPG they are desperate for cash and they make so difficult to get your money back it’s a fraud !!

Depicting St Sebastien as transgender Asian man? Why would I ever visit a Gallery that lies and tried to push a woke narrative? I am ashamed of the National Gallery. They don't deserve any stars at all.

I’m posting this review on behalf of my child, Carlo, aged 11 who visited the Gallery as an Art Event for his Bronze Arts Award:

When I went to the National Gallery with a group of friends, my mum, and my siblings, lots of things happened. I saw many different types of art forms, like paintings, sketches, and colouring. I went to this art event to get inspired and to learn more about art, and I did.

I learned what Neo-Impressionism was and how artists created it, which I found interesting. I also discovered how to make my own artwork look more realistic. It helped me understand why people in the past created so many different kinds of pictures. I enjoyed the visit because there were big paintings of horses, and horses are my favourite animals. The animal artworks were my favourite because I love animals. There were also many other pieces that I liked.

I thought the exhibition was beautiful. There was one thing I did not like. I thought all the nude pictures were inappropriate.

I would recommend visiting the National Gallery because it has lots of interesting and beautiful artwork. When I share my experience with others, I would say that it is amazing.

If I could go to another art event like this, it would be amazing because I really enjoyed this one. I would like to share my review with other people.

There were no tickets left for the Van Gogh exhibition 2024-25, but nevertheless, if I forked out £68 for a years membership I would be allowed in. Huh? Surely they are either fully booked or they aren't?

So I paid the requisite extortionate amount and the place was indeed heaving with people - presumable many other folk had paid the £68 to get in.

Now approaching my membership renewal I have received a letter from them, which luckily I opened in time. For buried away near the end of the letter it informs me they have automatically upgraded me to a higher level of membership and will be taking £130 (!) from my bank account next month unless I contact them. Outrageous behaviour. The default should be to contact them to upgrade, not contact them to stay the same. Not happy at all about these practices, have cancelled my Direct Debit.

I visited the National Gallery to see the rehang & it's wonderful. The Triumphs of Caesar by Mantegna is on loan from Hampton Court & I was the only person in the gallery. My one complaint is a BIG complaint, The four Veronese paintings, Scorn, Unfaithfulness, Respect and Happy Union used to be displayed together but now someone had the absurd idea of displaying two painting at one end of a very large gallery and two at the other end. I very much doubt that many people will notice that they are conncected. I find it beyond belief that anyone could make such a decision.

I have been a member for over a year. Used to love it. mid october a letter came from the Gallery and knew it was time ti renew my membership. It was a busy time so I waited a good couple of weeks yo open the letter. I was shocked to see i had automatically been signed up for a most expensive membership! Aure enough amount was debited from my account. I immediately wrote to ask ti cancel (legal right - cooling off period). I am getting no responses to my emails. I tried to call twice, the calls has abruptly ended after 1 mn wait because they cannot take the call at that time. What is this absolute scandal? I expect such practices from cowboys companies and dishonest fundraisers, not the National Gallery. Definitely putting me off from ANY membership… i do mot like dishonesty!

All Welcome says the website.

Not if you have a cabin size case. Even it is smaller than the size stated on their website for the cloakroom. Its maybe because of the wheels but none of the staff at the door including Sinner the security man could give (or bother to give) a coherent explanation. Would have given up at this point but already paid a donation to book a ticket. So back to Charing Cross to pay £10 instead of paying £2 for the National Gallery cloakroom. A clockroom which unsurprisingly was virtually empty....

PS put the very same case in the Victoria & Albert cloakroom so maybe go there instead

Visited the Siena exhibition. Quite busy in a small space - would be difficult to see the small pictures if very busy, however it was well curated. My issue lies with the £2 fee to buy the 'Art guide' which is in fact the map of the museum, and also the £2 per item for storage at the cloakroom which was essential to use for us to visit the exhibition....why not lockers with returnable coin? All ways to get extra cash out of customers- if you've paid for the exhibition these should be free....

What a lovely time spent at the gallery with friends.
I highlighly recommend it.
Just another thing to do!! 😁

THE VENUE OVERLOOKING WONDERFUL LONDON SIGHTS, NO MUSIC OR NOISE, CHARMING SERVICE AND VERY ENJOYABLE FOOD.

The exhibition was far too crowded. Therefore a bit claustrophobic and hard to enjoy the small paintings. Also discomfort from long queues for the toilets which now include 70-80% of men over 60 who have the common BPH prostate disability and need frequent quick trips. The urinals have been removed for political (not health) reasons.

Apalling queues which is a new problem. British Museum does much better. Pictures not on display because of pointless rebuilding project. If Finaldi- the Director- put more time into the visitor experience and less into vanity projects we would all be much better off.

Paid for membership but there’s no way of signing into the website and registering that you are a member. I have used the email address that I registered with but it doesn’t recognise my subscription. Therefore can only make purchases for exhibitions and shopping products at full price. They never respond to emails and I have only received a virtual membership card that can’t be included in my iPhone wallet. I’ve been robbed!

It was wonderful to see so many Van Gogh paintings together in one place. However it was too crowded to really enjoy them. Even though we paid for entry at a specific time the rooms were rammed with people. May I please request that numbers are limited for special exhibitions!!!!

Dreadful. Do NOT buy anything from this shop!! I ordered 2 scarves and only 1 arrived. I phoned but no answer. I emailed included a photo from the Evri courier showing a very thin parcel being posted and no acknowledgement or response. I suspect that there is foul play. I am frustrated for not checking Trustpilot before ordering.
Update 19 Dec: After emailing, I received a reply saying that the one scarf was out of stock and that they had issued a refund, which I have now received. The scarf did not show as OOS when I ordered, nor did I receive any communication to tell me it was OOS. In fact the only email I received was to tell me that both scarves had been dispatched.
Bottom line is that I am not convinced I would have received a refund had I not emailed and included the Evri photo.
I still would not order from them again.

Please be very careful with these people. I accidentally payed for National Gallery instead of National Trust, where I contacted them straight away after this, plus have tried calling them various times. I have never even received a reply.
Judging by a lot of the other reviews, this doesn’t sound like a reputable organisation to become involved with.

No reply to emails sent to two different NG addresses. Automated reply to 'email us' when phoning. Will not be renewing membership in April

If I could give 0 stars i would. Disgusting/ non-existent level of customer service. Received a voucher for a virgin experience with afternoon tea and tour of gallery. Sent several emails to book - last one a week ago and no response. Also no response to phone calls, When i eventually did get through to a member of staff today they were very rude. Still trying to book my afternoon tea.

Because of unforseen circumstances I am unable to travel to London from Manchester on the date and time of my ticket to see the Van Gogh exhibition. I have attempted to call the NT several times and emailed once with no reply. My daughter was told when she got through that they were too busy to provide refunds. What a dreadful and lazy attitude. On purchasing the tickets we were informed that refunds were available but this was clearly a lie. Shameful.

I bought tickets to the Van Gogh exhibition back in September and on my visit there (11 days after purchasing the tickets) as I was leaving I had already decided to buy annual membership.

According to their terms, and promises at the desk, my original ticket price would be refunded within ‘4 to 6 weeks’. This is an unusual amount of time to say the least, but it’s now making much more sense given that eight weeks later I still haven’t received the refund.

How many people would remember to check and not just blindly trust this ‘organisation’?