National Gallery to let one person sleep overnight in ‘first’ as section reopens

The National Gallery has revealed it will let a member of the public sleep overnight for the “first time” as the Sainsbury Wing reopens after a two-year refurbishment.

Ahead of the Trafalgar Square-based museum completely re-opening in the capital to mark its 200th anniversary, a person will be chosen to be allowed to rest on a bed near the paintings on May 9.

To choose the lucky person, the gallery is launching a prize draw as next month the wing sees the return of the earliest paintings in the collection.

These include Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ, Jacopo di Cione’s 14th century work The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece and Paolo Uccello’s recently restored The Battle Of San Romano.

Bed, adorned by the Marks & Spencer / National Gallery collection, at the Sainsbury Wing. (The National Gallery/PA)

The bed will be in the area that connects the Sainsbury Wing, which has generally housed early Renaissance paintings, with the rest of the gallery.

The winner will also enjoy a dinner for two at Locatelli, a restaurant set to be opened in the museum by Michelin-starred chef Giorgio Locatelli, and once their friend departs a private tour of CC Land: The Wonder of Art with a curator.

CC Land: The Wonder of Art is a curated rehanging of the gallery’s works, spanning the Western European tradition from the 13th to 20th centuries.

It sees paintings from French Impressionist Claude Monet, Italian Renaissance painter Titian, Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck, Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn and British landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough kept in their own dedicated rooms.

Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ. (Yui Mok/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Yui Mok

When the chosen person wakes up on May 10, they will have a breakfast hamper, and be able to enjoy exploring before the official re-opening of the Sainsbury Wing at 10am.

Current subscribers to the gallery’s newsletter will be automatically entered, and anyone else can go to nationalgallery.org.uk/subscribe/wake-up.

The competition is open until 6pm on April 28, after which the overnight sleeper will be randomly selected.

The gallery has previously been opened overnight to the public during the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition in January, which allowed slots to be booked from 9pm until 10am.