London · United Kingdom
Seven centuries of European painting, from Van Eyck's quiet interiors to Van Gogh's last sunflowers — all free, all facing Trafalgar Square.
More than 2,300 paintings hang across the Wilkins building and the Sainsbury Wing, with no obligation to follow a single route. Wall labels are informative but easy to miss in a busy room, and a phone search for 'that painting with the mirror' rarely lands on the right saint, donor, or decade.
ELYIO turns the camera you already have into a quiet second opinion. Point it at a canvas that's caught your eye, and the app tries to identify what it can — artist, title, era — so you can look longer and read less.
The collection reads roughly chronologically, from gold-ground altarpieces to the edge of the 20th century, but nothing stops you from wandering against the grain.
Sainsbury Wing rooms holding Italian and Netherlandish works from the 1200s–1500s, including Van Eyck's famously enigmatic interiors and luminous altarpieces by Piero della Francesca and Uccello.
Rembrandt self-portraits, Vermeer's hush, and the domestic clarity of the Dutch Golden Age, hung in rooms built for close, unhurried looking.
Constable's skies and Turner's dissolving light, shown alongside the Claude Lorrain paintings Turner asked to be hung beside his own.
Monet, Seurat, Cézanne and Van Gogh close the chronology — a single run of rooms where the 19th century visibly changes its mind about what painting is for.
Jan van Eyck · 1434
A convex mirror the size of a coin, reflecting a room — and two more figures — that shouldn't fit in it.
One of the most examined paintings in Western art: a merchant, his wife, a mirror, a dog, and five centuries of arguments about what's actually happening in the room.
J.M.W. Turner · 1839
A warship that fought at Trafalgar, towed to the scrapyard by a small, smoke-black steam tug — under a sunset that looks like it's grieving.
Turner's own favourite among his works, and routinely voted Britain's best-loved painting; it hangs a short walk from the square named after the battle the ship survived.
Vincent van Gogh · 1888
Fourteen sunflowers in a jar, painted in a fever of yellow to welcome a friend who was, famously, about to disappoint him.
One of five surviving versions of the subject, painted in Arles for Gauguin's arrival — now one of the most photographed paintings in London.
There's no correct order and no queue for a single 'must-see' room — the galleries are built to be crossed and recrossed. Many visitors pick a wing by instinct (gold-ground panels, Dutch interiors, Turner's skies) and let one painting lead to the next.
Bring ELYIO instead of a fixed itinerary. Lift your phone toward whatever's held your attention, and let the recognition fill in the who and when, so the story doesn't depend on finding the right label first.
The National Gallery occupies the Wilkins building and the Sainsbury Wing on the north side of Trafalgar Square, a short walk from Charing Cross station. General admission to the main collection has been free since the Gallery's founding, though ticketed exhibitions run separately. Because ELYIO's recognition for this museum is still in controlled preview, treat it as a companion for the paintings it can identify today, not a substitute for the Gallery's own wall texts and guides.
General admission to the permanent collection is free, as it has been since the Gallery opened in 1824. Temporary loan exhibitions are usually ticketed separately.
Sunflowers is part of the Gallery's Post-Impressionist rooms, in the chronological run of galleries covering the late 19th century.
Yes — Jan van Eyck's 1434 panel has been in the National Gallery's collection since 1842 and remains one of its most closely studied works.
There's no fixed route, so timing depends entirely on you: an hour is enough to see a handful of highlights, while a full morning suits a slower walk through several rooms.
Not yet. ELYIO's recognition for this museum is in controlled preview, so point your camera at what interests you and the app will identify what it currently can — coverage is expanding, not complete.
ELYIO is an independent visitor tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the museum.