The author Leïla Slimani had already tried the experience of sleeping in a museum, when she was invited to spend a night at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, an immersion that led her to write The scent of flowers at night (2021). The National Gallery in London offers this same experience for the night of May 9 to 10, 2025 to the one who will be chosen during a draw on the occasion of its 200th anniversary and the inauguration of its Sainsbury wing after two years of renovation. The articles relating this advertisement does not fail to invoke the 2006 film Night at the museum. Leïla Slimani mentioned the idea that perhaps, “Objects came to life after dark”.
The winner will be able, after having dinner in the new Locatelli restaurant located in the Sainsbury wing, discover, accompanied by the director of Christine Riding collections, part of the 1,000 works of art – including Monet and Titian – retracing the evolution of European painting between the 13th and 20th century. The next day, he will benefit from a breakfast before the wing opened at 10 a.m. and will spend the night under the supervision of the night guards in a luxury bed located on the bridge connecting the main building to the Sainsbury wing.
“This is the first time that we have had such an exciting opportunity to rethink and refresh the way we present one of the largest art collections in the world, under the same roof”had explained Christine Riding at Guardian. The competition is open until April 28 at 6 p.m. for subscribers to the National Gallery newsletter, aged over 18.
If the experience is not unprecedented, it has rarely taken the form of a draw. In 2011, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, located in New York, had offered a Dreamover Where participants could sleep at the museum alongside a work specifically chosen for them, after answering a questionnaire on the dream. The objective was to establish an intimate link between the visitor and the work, to observe the influence of art on dreams. This scientific approach was accompanied by thematic conferences with philosophers and neuroscientists. Although the results were sometimes confusing – a visitor, for example, had recovered on a blog that, sleeping under a photograph of a street in New Delhi, he had dreamed of business – the experience had been generally welcomed.
Besides, the New York Times indicated in 2017 that, despite the very high costs of these night experiences, tickets were still sold very quickly. For example, the American Museum of Natural History of Manhattan had offered the experience, and, despite the price of 375 dollars per ticket (342 euros), they had passed in three hours.
In France, this kind of experience remains rarer, although we can remember the airbnb advertising campaigns allowing a couple drawn to spend a night in the Louvre pyramid and savor a cup of champagne in front The Mona Lisa. However, the dream was interrupted at 7 a.m., giving way to the crowd of visitors.
