The National Gallery stands above Trafalgar Square, where London's movement briefly gives way to the slower demands of looking. Inside, a merchant's room painted in the fifteenth century and a ship's final journey imagined in the nineteenth can belong to the same afternoon. The collection offers a passage through European painting, but its most rewarding distances are sometimes measured between two pictures rather than between centuries.
General admission is free, a practical fact that changes how the gallery can be used. There is no need to treat one visit as a final opportunity to see everything. Choose a few works, spend time with them and leave room to return. Some temporary exhibitions have separate charges, so distinguish a visit to the main collection from a booked exhibition when planning the day.
