The National Gallery at 200: is this rehang a bold relaunch or rinse and repeat?

By Jonathan Conlin, Professor of Modern History, University of Southampton

The National Gallery has recently rehung its entire collection. Taking hundreds of paintings off the wall and replacing them in a new arrangement requires considerable mental and physical labour on the part of curators, conservators and technicians.

A rehang tends to elicit strong reactions from anyone with a stake in the collection – and in the case of a public gallery, “anyone” means “everyone”. Unsurprisingly then, it has only been done twice at the National Gallery since the second world war.

Last month, I attended a launch party for the gallery’s new Sainsbury Wing…

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