The National Portrait Gallery announces plan to send 50 artworks across the country

London’s National Portrait Gallery today (25 July) announced plans to circulate 50 works from its collection around the UK. The project, called Coming Home, sees work by the likes of Tracey Emin, David Hockney, and photographer Kate Peters travelling to the towns and cities that their subjects are most closely associated with.

Described by the NPG’s director Nicholas Cullinan as “unique, inclusive, and ambitious,” the Coming Home scheme — not named, presumably at least, with this month’s now-faded World Cup euphoria in mind – is an attempt to broaden the collection’s literal and metaphorical reach.

A cross-country cavalcade of cultural capital will see initially see Tracey Emin’s 2002 bronze work Death Mask reside in Margate Library, while David Hockney’s Self-Portrait with Charlie will take up temporary residence in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall art gallery, amongst other nation-spanning swaps.

Nicholas says that Coming Home is a means of “helping us [The National Portrait Gallery] to fulfil our aim of being truly a national gallery for everyone, in our role as the nation’s family album.”