2025 ACQUISITION PRIZE
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
The National Portrait Gallery is one of the United Kingdom’s most renowned art institutions. Founded in 1856, it houses an extensive collection of portraits depicting historically important and famous British people, from Tudor monarchs to contemporary cultural figures. The gallery’s mission is to celebrate the people who have shaped British history and culture through art. Following an extensive three-year redevelopment project completed in 2023, the Gallery reopened with newly curated displays, enhanced public spaces, and a renewed commitment to representing the diversity of Britain’s past and present. Through its dynamic exhibitions and educational programmes, the National Portrait Gallery continues to engage visitors with the evolving art of portraiture and its role in shaping cultural memory.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR OF THE COLLECTIONS
Dr Flavia Frigeri is an Italian art historian and curator specialising in modern and contemporary art, currently serving as the Director of the Collections at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Educated at University College London, where she completed her PhD in Art History, Frigeri has held notable curatorial positions, including her role at Tate Modern. Her scholarly work focuses on post-war art, with particular emphasis on Italian modernism, Latin American art, and the re-evaluation of women artists within the modern canon. In addition to her curatorial practice, she lectures at University College London and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and has authored several publications that reflect her ongoing commitment to broadening narratives in art history.
2025 ACQUISITIONS
Stella Snead
.jpg)
Stella Snead (1910–2006) was a British-born Surrealist painter and photographer whose career spanned London, New York, and India. Associated with the circle of émigré Surrealists in the 1930s and 1940s, her paintings often combined dreamlike landscapes with symbolic figures and natural forms. After relocating to India in the 1950s, Snead turned to photography, documenting rituals, festivals, and folk traditions. Her work, deeply infused with mysticism and imagination, continues to bridge Surrealism and cross-cultural exploration.
Madge Gill
Madge Gill (1882–1961) was a self-taught British artist celebrated for her intricate ink drawings and visionary compositions often featuring ethereal female figures. Working mostly in spiritualist and outsider art contexts, Gill created thousands of works guided, she said, by a spirit named “Myrninerest.” Her art, largely produced on postcard-sized pieces or long rolls of calico, explores themes of femininity, mysticism, and inner vision. Today, her work is held in major public collections, including the Museum of Everything and the London Borough of Newham’s collection.
