Sir Paul McCartney’s ‘never before seen’ photos of The Beatles to go on display

Sir Paul McCartney’s “never before seen” photographs of his Beatles bandmates will be shown for the first time in an exhibition at the reopened National Portrait Gallery.

The gallery has been undergoing a £35 million revamp, and will reopen in June with the “unprecedented” display of hundreds of personal photographs.

The black and white images, taken by Sir Paul himself between 1963 and 1964, were forgotten by the musician. It is understood he later approached the gallery in 2020, having found the photographs among his personal collection.

The archive of more than 200 photographs shows the Beatles in the early days of “Beatlemania”, as they move between gigs in Liverpool, London, and appearances on US talks shows.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, said the images mark the band’s transition from “the most popular band in Britain to an international cultural phenomenon”.

“We will be showcasing a truly unprecedented exhibition which will share for the first time an extraordinary archive of rediscovered and never before seen photographs taken by Sir Paul McCartney,” he said.

“This exhibition provides a uniquely personal perspective on what it was like to be a ‘Beatle’ at the start of ‘Beatlemania’.”

The exhibition, titled Eyes of the Storm, will run from June to October 2023.

Other exhibitions announced by the National Portrait Gallery include a review of David Hockney’s work, which is set to return after being interrupted during the Covid pandemic.