The National Gallery's aim is to encourage the public throughout the United Kingdom - and beyond - to value and enjoy its pictures. The Gallery aims to work with partners in museums around the country to support the increasing role the pictures play at all levels of public education, lifelong learning and enjoyment.
Major National Gallery pictures are regularly on show in museums and galleries outside London as part of the Touring Exhibitions programme.
From 2002-8 the National Gallery had a partnership scheme with Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle to create a series of shared, annual exhibitions, which were chosen and planned jointly by staff from the three galleries. The shows toured to all three venues.
The National Gallery's collection is one among many fine collections of paintings in Britain, which provide an unrivalled resource for visitors of all ages.
The Gallery has been working with colleagues in over 200 museums throughout the country on the National Inventory Research Project. The NICE Paintings database [external website] gives access to newly researched information about 8,300 pictures in collections throughout the UK.