The National Gallery in London does not stop, open digitally

LONDON - Open digitally 24 hours a day, to ensure that everyone, at any time and in any part of the world, can receive a little bit of hope, inspiration and reassurance from art in these difficult times: in days of the new British lockdown, the third since the coronavirus emergency began, the National Gallery in London, even with the gates closed, wants to make its loyal audience felt with an interesting program strictly online.

In addition to the on demand tour launched in November to see the great exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi, with the curator Letizia Treves, which in 30 minutes allows you to learn about the life of the painter and to "enter" her most famous and dramatic paintings, the National Gallery has several appointments scheduled: January 21, free meeting with Theresa Lola, to deepen the exhibition "Sensing the Unseen. Step into Gossaert's Adoration", dedicated to the painting "Adoration of the Magi" by the Flemish painter Jan Gossaert;

on February 18 the online debate "Crossing Borders: Albrecht Dürer's Renaissance" with the curator Imogen Tedbury, in relation to the exhibition "Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist" next March.

And again, on February 17 the meeting with Harold Offeh, as part of the "Unexpected Views" series, to discuss a masterpiece selected from the collection;

between January and February the creative sessions "Talk and Draw" centered on "The Execution of Lady Jane Gray" by Paul Delaroche and "Portrait of Margaret Gainsborough" by Thomas Gainsborough;

appointments dedicated to blind and partially sighted visitors and those for visual arts professionals;

the Art Stories course (13, 20 and 27 January and 10 February).

Finally, the workshops for the family that during the semester include "Decoding pictures" (February 15), "Musical stories" (February 16), an online musical storytelling event for babies and young children;

and "Story Studio" (February 17), a live Zoom session where families can listen to a story and then create a work of art from there.

A rich schedule, therefore, that reflects the commitment of the London museum in the production of ever new and captivating online content during the pandemic.

A commitment that never failed, which was rewarded by the public, as the numbers confirm: since March 2020, in fact, the National Gallery has registered a 1.125% increase in visitors to the "Stories" page on the website hosting new digital content , online events and an archive of recent internally produced feature films and films.

The average time spent on individual painting pages increased by 71% and the average duration of the individual overall sessions increased by 30% since last March, compared to the same period of the previous year.

With a total number of followers reaching 3,775,680 (on the official pages of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), the museum during the lockdown launched for the first time online training events (September 2020) in which about 2,368 attendees to date.

Most of the participants reside in the UK, but the sessions are also attended by audiences in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland and France, and from countries such as Peru, Russia and South Africa.