On 1 January, when NATIONAL GALLERY opens in theatres, Frederick Wiseman will turn 85 and is still working on more projects. Since his 1967 debut film TITICUT FOLIES, Wiseman has made a film almost every year and the total has now reached 41. Each film deals with institutions and mainly with the people who work inside these structures or use them. His subject this time is one of the greatest museums in the world, The National Gallery in London, where one can find masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, Turner or van Eyck. In three hours Wiseman takes us inside the museum and all of the activities that define this space, including the stories and meanings behind the paintings. He gives space to the museum guides and their groups, both young and old who attempt to understand the meaning of the paintings and art more generally. Wiseman wants the viewer to also remember the history that is tied to the paintings. He underscores that the museum’s origins can be traced to the slave trade. At another point Wiseman reveals the tension between the elite of this ur-British institution and the egalitarian notion of a public museum

Michael Meyns