Editing National Gallery (section)

===20th century: modernisation versus restoration===
[[File:Boris Anrep mosaic, The National Gallery - The Awakening of the Muses.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Boris Anrep#National Gallery mosaics (1928–1952)|The Awakening of the Muses]]'' (1933), a mosaic by Boris Anrep]]

Later additions to the west came more steadily but maintained the coherence of the building by mirroring Barry's cross-axis plan to the east. The use of dark marble for doorcases was also continued, giving the extensions a degree of internal consistency with the older rooms. The classical style was still in use at the National Gallery in 1929, when a [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]]–style gallery was built, funded by the art dealer and trustee [[Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen of Millbank|Lord Duveen]]. However, it was not long before the 20th-century reaction against Victorian attitudes became manifest at the gallery. From 1928 to 1952, the landing floors of Taylor's entrance hall were relaid with a new series of [[mosaic]]s by [[Boris Anrep]], who was friendly with the [[Bloomsbury Group]]. These mosaics can be read as a satire on 19th-century conventions for the decoration of public buildings, as typified by the [[Albert Memorial]]'s ''[[Frieze of Parnassus]]''.{{sfn|Conlin|2006|pp=404–405}} The central mosaic depicting ''The Awakening of the Muses'' includes portraits of [[Virginia Woolf]] and [[Greta Garbo]], subverting the high moral tone of its Victorian forebears. In place of Christianity's [[seven virtues]], Anrep offered his own set of ''Modern Virtues'', including "Humour" and "Open Mind"; the allegorical figures are again portraits of his contemporaries, including Winston Churchill, [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[T. S. Eliot]].{{sfn|Oliver|2004|p=54}}

In the 20th century, the gallery's late Victorian interiors fell out of fashion.<ref>See for example National Gallery (corporate author) (1974). ''The Working of the National Gallery''. London: National Gallery Publishing, p. 8: "the National Gallery has suffered from the visual pretentiousness of its 19th century buildings". The modernist North Galleries opened the following year.</ref> The Crace ceiling decorations in the entrance hall were not to the taste of the director [[Charles Holmes]], and were obliterated by white paint.<ref name=Jury2007>They were restored only in 2005. {{cite news |first=Louise |last=Jury |title=A Victorian masterpiece emerges from beneath the whitewash |work=The Independent |date=14 June 2004 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040614/ai_n12791111 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016152941/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040614/ai_n12791111 |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 October 2007 |access-date=14 October 2007}}</ref>
The North Galleries, which opened to the public in 1975, marked the arrival of [[modern architecture|modernist architecture]] at the National Gallery. In the older rooms, the original classical details were effaced by partitions, daises and suspended ceilings, the aim being to create neutral settings which did not distract from contemplation of the paintings. But the gallery's commitment to modernism was short-lived: by the 1980s Victorian style was no longer considered anathema, and a restoration programme began to restore the 19th- and early 20th-century interiors to their purported original appearance. This began with the refurbishment of the Barry Rooms in 1985–1986. From 1996 to 1999 even the North Galleries, by then considered to "lack a positive architectural character", were remodelled in a classical style, albeit a simplified one.{{sfn|Gaskell|2000|pp=179–182}}