National Gallery

What makes it special

In the Arnolfini Portrait, look past the couple to the convex mirror on the back wall. It reflects two men coming into the room, one of them raising his arm, and Van Eyck's signature is painted just above it.

Then look at the room: the chandelier is too big for the ceiling, and there is no fireplace.

Van Gogh painted Sunflowers to decorate his house in Arles before his friend Paul Gauguin came to stay. The flowers run from young bud to full bloom to decay, the life cycle Dutch flower painters used as a reminder that everything fades. Stand close and the paint is thick and raised, which no print shows.

Turner's The Fighting Temeraire shows the old warship being towed away for scrap. Give the light in the sky a few minutes before you move on.

Visiting

Four wings on the main floor hang the paintings in date order, starting with the medieval and early Renaissance rooms of the Sainsbury Wing. You enter through the Sainsbury Wing, past a walk-through metal detector and a bag check.

The audio guide covers more than 50 paintings, with a shorter highlights selection if you have only an hour. Pick one wing or two or three artists before you start, because the collection is too big for one visit.

The Arnolfini Portrait hangs in Room 52 and Sunflowers in Room 43. Leave the Impressionist rooms for last or expect a crowd there, as they are the busiest in the building. On very busy days, staff may ask you to move along to the next painting or room.

Guided or on your own

For a first visit with an expert, book the Saturday Highlights tour, a ticketed 90-minute introduction that starts in the Sainsbury Wing Foyer twice in the morning and once in the afternoon. You collect a headset in the foyer, and the ticket lets you stay on in the Gallery after the tour ends.

Tips

Bring as little as you can. Bags up to 56 x 25 x 45 cm are allowed; wheeled luggage, cabin bags included, and suitcases are not.

Benches stand among the pictures across the Gallery. Once you have found the paintings you came for, sit in front of one for five minutes and let the detail come to you.