Portrait of a Young Man, 1944 (black crayon & white chalk on paper) © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2025 / Bridgeman Images. Private Collection

Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting

Due to popular demand, we are extending our exhibition opening hours to release more Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting tickets. In its final 2 weeks, see the exhibition until 22:00 on Fridays and Saturdays and until 20:00 on the final Sunday.

Friday 24 and Saturday 25 April, until 22.00
Friday 1 and Saturday 2 May, until 22.00
Sunday 3 May, until 20.00

***

Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting is the UK’s most comprehensive museum exhibition to focus on the artist's works on paper, including some works seen on display for the first time.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) achieved recognition as one of Britain's foremost figurative painters, celebrated for his clinically raw and intensely observed portraits and nude studies. Freud’s working practice, artistic techniques and processes, alongside his dedication to the genre of portraiture all contribute to his popularity as an artist. 

The exhibition explores the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the human face and figure from the 1930s to the early 21st 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.

Ahead of the exhibition in 2026, the National Portrait Gallery has acquired 12 new works from the estate of Lucian Freud. Among these are 8 etchings, including a trial proof, which are the first of their medium by Freud to enter the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection. One of the newly acquired etchings, which depicts the artist’s fashion-designer daughter, Bella Freud, is featured in the new exhibition, alongside archive research and previously unseen materials. 

Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting is the first exhibition of Freud’s work at the National Portrait Gallery since the major retrospective Lucian Freud Portraits held in 2012, shortly after his death. 

Following its run at the National Portrait Gallery, Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting will tour to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, from 10 June to 27 September 2026.

© The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2025 / Bridgeman Images. Photo © National Portrait Gallery, London. National Portrait Gallery, London. Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, from the estate of Lucian Freud, 2024.

© The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2025 / Bridgeman Images. Photo: © National Portrait Gallery, London. Lent by a private collection, courtesy of Ordovas, 2014.

David Hockney, 2002 (oil on canvas) © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2025 / Bridgeman Images. Private Collection.

NPG

An 1856 lithograph of the Selimiye barracks at Scutari as a hospital during the Crimean War where Florence Nightingale worked, by William Simpson

The evolution of hospital design: from past to future

Tracing the evolution from ancient care facilities to modern healing environments

26 JULY 2025, 

OGUZ ATAKAN GUL

Hospital design has undergone a remarkable transformation over the centuries. Once focused solely on function and efficiency, healthcare architecture now prioritizes patient experience, healing, and community integration. As the healthcare industry adapts to new challenges and innovations, hospitals have shifted from sterile, institutional environments to vibrant, patient-centric facilities. This article explores the evolution of hospital design, highlighting key historical milestones, modern trends, and the role of technology in shaping the hospitals of tomorrow.

Biophilic design / A symphony of nature in architecture

 

Biophilic design architecture, Singapore, Changi Airport

Biophilic design

A symphony of nature in architecture 

26 AUGUST 2025, 

OGUZ ATAKAN GUL

In the heart of our bustling cities, where skyscrapers scrape the heavens and concrete jungles stretch to the horizon, a silent revolution is taking root. It's a movement that beckons us to rediscover our connection with the natural world—a phenomenon known as "biophilic design." As we step into these architecturally reimagined spaces, we embark on a journey where the boundaries between the built and the natural blur, creating harmonious sanctuaries that inspire awe and introspection.

Innovative architectural / Designing healthcare solutions for rural communities

 

Yves Marre's péniche, serving as a floating clinic in Bangladesh

Designing healthcare solutions for rural communities

Innovative architectural approaches to improve access, efficiency, and sustainability in remote areas

26 SEPTEMBER 2025, 

OGUZ ATAKAN GUL

Access to quality healthcare is a fundamental right, yet rural areas worldwide often struggle with limited medical facilities and resources. Bridging the accessibility gap in rural healthcare requires innovative architectural solutions tailored to the unique challenges of these regions. From modular clinics to community-driven healthcare hubs, the design of rural medical facilities can profoundly impact the well-being of underserved populations. Beyond addressing medical needs, these structures can serve as community anchors, promoting education, social interaction, and economic growth.

The rise of brain-responsive architecture

 

Modern office lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows, green chairs around round tables, and ribbed planters holding lush indoor plants. Bright and airy with a contemporary feel

The rise of brain-responsive architecture

A speculative but grounded vision of an architectural future where buildings don’t just shelter us

26 OCTOBER 2025, 

OGUZ ATAKAN GUL

Consider if your office could tell that you were losing focus and adjusted the lighting to revive you. Or if your home could notice tension in your body and muted its acoustics and temperature to relax you. This is the new universe of brain-sensitive design—a union of neuroscience, AI, biometric monitoring, and adaptive systems that has the potential to redefine our relationship with the built environment.

Biophilic design and the brain / Why we thrive in nature-inspired spaces

 

Fallingwater is a house museum in Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Biophilic design and the brain

Why we thrive in nature-inspired spaces

26 APRIL 2026, 

OGUZ ATAKAN GUL

As we become increasingly urbanized, spending nearly 90% of our lives indoors, the divide between human beings and the natural world grows more pronounced. Yet, neuroscience tells us that our brains are still wired for nature. This is the premise behind biophilic design — a design philosophy that seeks to reconnect people with the natural environment through architecture. Far more than a passing aesthetic trend, biophilic design draws from evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and environmental psychology to create spaces that support mental, physical, and emotional health. It is one of the most potent tools in the emerging field of neuroarchitecture.

The new flesh / Modern body horror beyond gore

 

Margaret Qualley as Sue in Substance, the younger, polished alter ego that turns beauty into a haunting split identity

The new flesh: modern body horror beyond gore

How Substance, The Ugly Stepsister, and Together redefine the genre

23 OCTOBER 2025, 

ALENA LYSIAKOVA

It begins with a body that doesn’t behave, and not in a cute “I tripped on my way to the bar” way. In Substance, skin glistens like a luxury product fresh from its packaging, promising perfection at a cost you won’t see on the label. In The Ugly Step-sister, the Cinderella fairy tale you thought you knew gets warped until limbs and features reshape into something unrecognisable, yet painfully human. In Together, love becomes an act of merging so complete it erases the border between “me” and “you”, a relationship goal only if your idea of romance involves shared internal organs.

Game over for bad adaptations / Why "The Last of Us" and "Fallout" finally broke the curse

 

Fallout, an American post-apocalyptic drama television series, was created for Amazon Prime Video by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dwore

Game over for bad adaptations

Why "The Last of Us" and "Fallout" finally broke the curse

23 NOVEMBER 2025, 

ALENA LYSIAKOVA

For decades, video game adaptations had one job: disappoint everyone. Studios would slap a recognizable title on a film (Super Mario Bros. 1993, Prince of Persia 2010, Uncharted 2022) and hope nostalgia alone would cover the plot holes. It didn’t. What they served up wasn’t the thrill of gameplay; it was like being forced to watch your older cousin hog the controller and then narrate his moves badly.

Laughing through the apocalypse / The rise of existential comedy

 

Set in a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles devastated by nuclear fallout, Fallout follows citizens forced to live in underground bunkers to survive radiation, mutants, and roaming bandits

Laughing through the apocalypse 

The rise of existential comedy

23 APRIL 2026, 

ALENA LYSIAKOVA

From The White Lotus to Don’t Look Up, Hazbin Hotel, and Fallout, we’re no longer crying about the end: we’re cracking jokes.

 

A silent crowd gathers beneath an illuminated cross, their candlelight flickering under the watch of cameras and drones, capturing the uneasy convergence of faith, surveillance, and collective power in the modern age

21st-century fascism and the antichrist

Apocalyptic politics, religious extremism, and the transformation of fascism in the age of technological power

13 APRIL 2026, 

BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS

 

Pieter Brueghel the Elder: The Triumph of Death 

A two-headed Hitler

War and peace as dual strategies of domination in contemporary global politics

20 APRIL 2026, 

BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS

In what is perhaps the best book on Hitler, Allan Bullock wrote in Hitler: A Study in Tyranny that Hitler’s philosophy is the natural philosophy of the doss-house, the philosophy of homeless shelters – a philosophy he learned while living in those shelters in Vienna for some time. Of course, Bullock forgot to apologize to the homeless because among them there is more than one philosophy, and above all there are philosophies contrary to the one he identifies. But the one he identifies is no less true for that. As evident in Mein Kampf and Hitler’s subsequent speeches and practices, the main elements of this philosophy are as follows:

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito

Machiavelli’s conception of power and agency in 'The Prince'

The role of fortune in political success

8 FEBRUARY 2026, 

AYBIKE PIYADE

This analysis explores how Niccolò Machiavelli conceptualizes fortune (fortuna) in the success or failure of a political leader in The Prince. Drawing upon key historical references and philosophical reasoning, it examines how Machiavelli balances the unpredictable nature of fortune with the decisive qualities of virtù—an individual’s capacity to act wisely, courageously, and decisively in ever-changing political landscapes. Through the lens of Renaissance politics and human nature, the text reveals how rulers can, and must, bend fortune to their will to secure political stability and personal power.

The Rwandan genocide: causes and global response

Skulls displayed at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Site in Nyamata, Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide: causes and global response

A tragic legacy of colonialism and international indifference

8 MAY 2025, 

AYBIKE PIYADE

The continent of Africa is considered the birthplace of humanity, it has become a continent where crimes against humanity have been committed extensively. Crimes against humanity committed on the African continent, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, also commonly known as Black Africa, have often been seen by the world community as a familiar, usual, and customary part of tribal conflicts and civil wars. In 1994, the press described the genocide in Rwanda as a tribal war between ethnic groups. This definition, which was often seen in the Western press in those years, makes clear the West's stance and its unresponsiveness to crimes against humanity in Rwanda or anywhere else in the world outside of its interests. The genocide in Rwanda took place in a very short period of about 100 days in 1994. 

The Cat by Juan Carlos Onetti

Illustration by Triunfo Arciniegad

The Cat
By Juan Carlos Onetti

Many unpleasant things can be said or imagined about John. But I never suspected him of lying; he had too much disdain for others to invent a fable that would put him in a favorable light.

 

Women's prize for fiction

Susan Choi and Lily King shortlisted for Women’s prize for fiction

The US writers join four debut authors in demonstrating ‘the complexity and beauty of the female experience’, said chair of judges Julia Gillard