LONDON.- Today, the National Portrait Gallery announced its forward programme of exhibitions for 2026, featuring a varied lineup of anticipated shows. Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting and Catherine Opie: To Be Seen will be the first exhibitions of the year, opening in February and March 2026. Summer at the Gallery will see a celebration of the 100th birthday of an icon with Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, as well as the 44th edition of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award. The latter part of the year will explore Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends and the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize headlining across autumn and winter.
Spring 2026
Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting
12 February – 3 May 2026
Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting will explore the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the human face and figure from the 1930s to the early twenty-first century, focusing on Freud’s mastery of drawing in all its forms – from pencil, pen, and ink to charcoal and etching. In addition, a carefully selected group of important paintings will reveal the dynamic dialogue between his practice on paper and on canvas.
After focussing on highly finished and linear observational drawings in the 1940s, which were much admired by critics at the time, Freud turned his attention to a looser approach to painting in the 1950s, in part influenced by his friendship with Francis Bacon. For the next twenty years Freud’s energy was focussed on painting and a selection of these ambitious works will be displayed alongside the related works on paper in the exhibition. Freud only returned to drawing in earnest in the mid-1970s when his painting had reached its full maturity. In 1982, after a 34-year hiatus, he returned to etching, which he regarded as a ‘form of drawing’. Drawing into Painting will also include a selection of sketchbooks from the National Portrait Gallery Archive. These pages span Freud’s working life, revealing the artist’s behind-the-scenes workings and expanding our understanding of his daily thinking as an artist.
Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
5 March – 31 May 2026
This exhibition of photographic portraits by American artist Catherine Opie, curated in collaboration with the artist, will be the first major museum exhibition of her work to be shown in the UK. On a domestic scale her work questions representations of home, intimacy and family, and on a national and international level explores politics, identity and power structures.
Over the past 30 years, Opie has explored and positioned the portrait in numerous contexts and visual formats. Conceptually rigorous and formally executed, her photographs make visible queer communities, mentors and collaborators, children, surfers, high school footballers, political crowds and Opie herself, through self-portraiture. Works featured in the exhibition will span her first major work, Being and Having (1991), and her ennobling portraits of LGBTQ+ friends inspired by court painter Hans Holbein, through to her Baroque-like portraits of artists. Portraits work in dialogue with one another to create new narratives, challenging viewers to reflect on the figures most commonly portrayed in art and those who go unseen.
In addition to this exhibition, a series of interventions will place Opie’s photographs in dialogue with the permanent Collection, probing further into representation in the context of the National Portrait Gallery.
The exhibition will subsequently tour to the National Galleries of Scotland at the Royal Scottish Academy building in Edinburgh in summer 2026.
Summer 2026
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
4 June – 6 September 2026
In celebration of the Hollywood star’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait will explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Bringing together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside over 20 era-defining photographers, including Cecil Beaton, Philippe Halsman, Bernard of Hollywood, André de Dienes, Eve Arnold, Inge Morath, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, Richard Avedon and George Barris, the exhibition will foreground Monroe’s collaborative approach to image making and her creative agency. The exhibition will also include personal belongings such as books, scripts and clothes to enrich understanding of the woman behind the image.
From the earliest ‘cheesecake’ pin-ups made when she was a young model named Norma-Jeane, to the most poignant final photographs taken on the beach in Malibu in 1962, Marilyn Monroe was one of the most photographed people in the world. A defining presence in popular culture, she captivated audiences with performances in much loved films such as Some Like it Hot.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Marilyn Monroe’s popularity secured her starring roles in the work of artists including Richard Hamilton, Pauline Boty and Andy Warhol, whose ‘Marilyn’ portraits are among the most highly prized works of art in the world. She continues to fascinate artists, drawn to her iconic presence and fascinating life.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026
25 June – 7 October 2026
The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award celebrates the very best in contemporary portraiture and is one of the most important platforms for portrait painters today. The artworks explore the variety of approaches, from the classic to the contemporary, and encourage viewers to reflect on the creativity of the artists’ processes. Since its inception, the long-standing competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and has been seen by over six million people. The highly competitive Award encourages artists over the age of 18 to focus upon, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their work. Using an impressive range and complexity of skill, artists explore both classical and innovative techniques that show the enduring relevance of portraiture today.
Autumn 2026
Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends
8 October 2026 – January 2027
Tim Walker’s Fairyland is an exploration of queer identity, community, and love through the lens of one of Britain’s foremost photographers.
Walker rose to prominence in the 1990s with his unique style of whimsical photography inspired by fairytales and adventures. He has photographed famous faces including Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, Pet Shop Boys, Hunter Schafer, Miriam Margolyes and Frank Ocean, with his work featured in international magazines including Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, LOVE, Another Man and i-D.
In preparation for this exhibition, he has spent the past five years photographing activists, performers, artists, and writers in his inimitable style. These new pictures are the result of Walker’s quest to connect with queer trailblazers in Britain and beyond.
This exhibition will take visitors on a journey into Walker’s inner world – a vivid tapestry woven from his many inspirations and influences. Exuberant portraits and fantastical landscapes combine to create an unforgettable celebration. Walker’s creativity runs free, and his Fairyland is a place where everyone has the freedom to be themselves.
The exhibition is curated by Susanna Brown and is accompanied by a new book featuring contributions written by Travis Alabanza, Russell T Davies, Shon Faye, Lisa Power and Joelle Taylor.
Winter 2026
Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2026
29 October 2026 – January 2027
The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize showcases the work of talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals in the very best of contemporary photography.
The competition celebrates a diverse range of images and tells the fascinating stories behind the creation of works, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family. The selected images, many of which are on display for the first time, explore both traditional and contemporary approaches to the photographic portrait whilst capturing a range of characters, moods and locations.
