National Gallery pulls all-nighter for Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers final weekend

Some of the country’s greatest artists, including Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Francis Bacon, used to visit the National Gallery during the early hours of the morning for inspiration. Now, art lovers have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps during a rare, all-night opening for the gallery’s Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition this month.

The London gallery announced on Thursday that its sellout exhibition will be open for 24 hours during its final weekend, with extra timed slots from 9pm on 17 January until 10am on 18 January.

It marks only the second time the gallery has opened overnight in its history – the first being for Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan in 2012.

The Van Gogh display has already become the third most popular paid exhibition in the National Gallery’s history, with 283,499 people viewing it from its opening day on 14 September 2024, to 7 January 2025.

Speaking about the late opening, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, said: “I am delighted that over 200,000 people have visited Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, and we look forward to welcoming more people to the exhibition as it comes to its final weeks.

“As part of our opening for the last weekend, our visitors will have the rare and special opportunity to experience Van Gogh’s pictures during the night and early hours of the morning following in the footsteps of artists such as Freud, Bacon and Hockney, who came here during those times to take inspiration from the gallery’s collection.”

Freud, a devoted admirer of European painting and regular visitor since his earliest days in London, had a close association with the National Gallery. “I use the gallery as if it were a doctor,” he said, “I come for ideas and help.”

Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers is the gallery’s first exhibition devoted to Vincent van Gogh, and is also the first anywhere to focus on the artist’s imaginative transformations, featuring more than 60 works and loans from museums and private collections around the world.

A 90-minute, in-depth film called Exhibition on Screen: Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers – directed by David Bickerstaff, featuring interviews with art experts, has shown the display in UK cinemas.

Among the National Gallery’s 200th anniversary celebrations this year will be the reopening of the Sainsbury Wing on 10 May and the unveiling of The Wonder of Art, the gallery’s most extensive rehang of its collection for several years. A new supporters’ house, for members and other supporters, and a new learning centre, will open this spring.