London’s National Gallery is offering a unique overnight stay to celebrate the reopening of its transformed Sainsbury Wing.
The institution has launched a prize draw for a sleepover experience to mark its 200th anniversary and the launch of the Sainsbury Wing after a two-year overhaul.
On 9 May, one lucky winner (plus a guest) will get to sleep overnight at the gallery within sight of the world’s greatest paintings.
They will also enjoy dinner for two at Locatelli, the National Gallery’s restaurant, and will receive a private tour of the gallery’s rehang with a curator.
Anyone over 18 who subscribes to the National Gallery’s newsletter (from 7 April) will be entered into the prize draw.
The competition is open until 6pm on 28 April. All current subscribers will be automatically entered.
The bed where the winner will sleep will feature the Marks & Spencer x National Gallery collection.
Sleepover to celebrate Sainsbury Wing reopening
It will be located on the ‘bridge’ that connects the refurbished Sainsbury Wing with the rest of the museum.
As the winner wakes up the following morning, they will get a breakfast hamper before exploring the gallery alone ahead of the public opening at 10am.
The National Gallery showcases more than 1,000 works of art in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century.
The collection includes works by Artemisia Gentileschi, Bellini, Cezanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez.
Paul Gray, deputy director and chief operating officer of the National Gallery, told blooloop last year: “The Sainsbury Wing was brilliant when it was when it was built and opened in 1991.
“But it really wasn’t built for 6 million visitors, and the needs of visitors have changed so much in the last 30 years.
“Visitors now demand and expect, quite rightly, bigger spaces, and better spaces to orientate themselves.”
Images courtesy of the National Gallery
