Scottish National Portrait Gallery - Sneak Peek

28 November 2011

While we were in Edinburgh last week, the boy and I got invited to a friends and family preview day at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, where staff got to show their friends and family round the refurbished gallery in advance of the official opening on 1 December (btw, what a nice idea to say thank you to staff for all their hard work - other museums take note!) I don’t want to get my friend in trouble by blogging about anything that’s meant to be kept under wraps until the big day, so I’ll have to keep it vague and blog about the details later.

We had a coffee in the light flooded café, which is decorated with a selection of portraits in different art styles, a very nice atmosphere indeed. As well as the café and the shop, the ground floor also houses the education suite and a temporary exhibition space. A new and extremely spacious glass lift then took us up to the first floor where my friend proudly showed us the galleries she had worked on, and we also got a sneak peak of the new library which had very comfy arm chairs! The new galleries are really lovely - they are bright and airy, with spaces to sit and appreciate the art, which is interspersed with interactives, touch screens, AVs and other contextual exhibits. There was so much to see we only managed the one floor during our visit, so the next time I’m back in Edinburgh I’ll have to check out the second floor!