National Portrait Gallery

Major coup for Plymouth as National Portrait Gallery exhibition heads to The Box

A major international exhibition, featuring some of the hottest names in contemporary art heads to The Box from the National Portrait Gallery this month for its only UK showing outside London.

The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure , which received five-star reviews during its London run, will be free to visit in Plymouth despite costing £16 in the capital....

Sir Joshua Reynolds' 'finest work' arrives in Plymouth

Touring for the first time since it was saved for the nation in 2023, Portrait of Mai by Sir Joshua Reynolds (c.1776) has arrived at The Box in Plymouth (until 14 June 2026), where it is now taking centre stage in a large-scale immersive exhibition.

Displayed across four gallery spaces, Journeys with Mai re-examines what is generally considered to be Reynolds’ finest work within the...

Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer

A new exhibition of portraits by the 20th century pioneering photographer Ida Kar opens at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday 26 January.

Ida Kar, Bohemian Photographer – Portraits of Artists from Paris, London and St Ives, highlights the crucial role played by this key female photographer at the heart of the creative avant-garde.

The exhibition has been produced in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London and is derived from their 2011 show – the first museum exhibition for 50 years devoted to Ida Kar, which included nearly 100 photographs,...