 In the 20th century the Gallery 's late Victorian interiors fell out of fashion . The Crace ceiling decorations in the entrance hall were not to the taste of the director Charles Holmes , and were obliterated by white paint . The North Galleries , which opened to the public in 1975 , marked the arrival of modernist architecture at the National Gallery . In the older rooms , the original classical details were effaced by partitions , daises and suspended roofs , 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 – 6 . 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 . 
