UK National Gallery director says ‘innovative’ and ‘playful’ presentation style at Hong Kong’s Palace Museum something to take back to London

Gabriele Finaldi says National Gallery’s Asian tour with 52 masterpieces was expensive, but a good investment

He says the tour raises gallery’s international profile, builds audiences and forges new connections

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Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, with some of the masterpieces on show at the Palace Museum. Photo: May Tse

Published: 10:30am, 24 Nov 2023

The decision by Britain’s National Gallery to bring 52 of its masterpieces to Hong Kong as part of a major Asia tour is expensive, but a good investment that has inspired the London landmark to try “innovative” and “playful” presentations, its director has said.

Gabriele Finaldi added it was rare for the almost 200-year-old gallery to organise large-scale overseas exhibitions such as the present one at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

But he said the institution was “looking to be more present abroad”.

“As the bicentenary [of the gallery] approaches, we thought it was an opportunity to raise the gallery’s profile, build up our audiences, and also to establish new professional and institutional connections,” he said.

Hong Kong is the last leg of the tour, which coincided with the closure of one-third of the gallery for renovations, after Shanghai and Seoul earlier this year.

The only other time paintings from the gallery’s collection have gone abroad was to Australia and Japan in 2020 and 2021.

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