London’s National Gallery has quietly transformed its display policy to show far fewer of its paintings. Contrary to the widespread belief that it is among the few very large museums anywhere in the world that shows nearly all its collection, in fact nearly half of its works are off view.
Neil MacGregor, while serving as director of the gallery, wrote in his introduction to the 1995 “Complete Illustrated Catalogue” that “every one of its 2,000 or so paintings is on public view”. The majority were installed in the main galleries, along with a dense display in a lower level gallery, known as Room A. By 2012, there were just over 1,000 paintings in the main galleries and 700 in Room A, representing 72% of the collection.
