NPG aiming to buy £50m ‘internationally significant’ Portrait of Omai 7 Sep 2022

The National Portrait Gallery is attempting to buy Sir Joshua Reynolds’ ‘Portrait of Omai’ which received an export bar earlier this year. Priced at £50m, if acquired, it would be the joint most expensive painting ever purchased by an UK institution. Omai was one of the earliest Polynesian visitors to Europe, who sailed to Britain with Captain Cook in 1774. Campaigners to retain the picture in the UK have emphasised its uniqueness both as a work of art and in the story it tells. In a letter to Government they write: “as a ‘signal work’ in the history of colonialism, scientific exploration and the Pacific, Portrait of Omai is an artwork of the utmost international significance. It is perhaps the greatest work of Britain’s greatest portraitist and the first ever grand portrait of a non-white subject. The story of Omai is now of more interest than ever as we seek to examine our past and understand who we are as a nation.” The initial export bar on the portrait ran to July, but an extension has now been applied to March 2023, to give the NPG and its supporters time to see if it can bring together the mix of private donation, funder and potential government support that will be necessary to achieve the purchase. A spokesperson for the gallery said “The second deferral period will give us the chance to explore a number of fundraising leads and gives potential supporters the opportunity to come forward to help stop this key work of British culture from leaving.” Art Newspaper