Aberdeen Art Gallery: A Visual-Arts Exhibition Space in the United Kingdom
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Bronze Age, Classical, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Egyptian, Roman
- Site type
- Museum
On this page8 sections
History
Aberdeen Art Gallery is a visual-arts exhibition space in the United Kingdom, established in 1884 as Aberdeen’s principal venue for art exhibitions. Construction of its building began in 1883, and the gallery opened in 1885.
The gallery received the collection of local granite merchant Alexander MacDonald in 1900. Building work followed in 1901 and 1905, with the latter including an addition related to sculpture. A ground-floor hall commemorates the 165 people who died in the 1998 incident at Piper Alpha, an offshore oil installation.
Remains
The gallery occupies a building designed by Scottish architect Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and Aberdeen architect and civic figure James Matthews. Its interior includes exhibition spaces finished with abundant marble.
Architecture and interior
Facade and exhibition spaces
A grand façade opens onto the gallery’s exhibition spaces. Marble features throughout the interior.
Halls and granite columns
The central hall has columns made from differently colored granite, brought from local quarries and from quarries farther afield. On the ground floor, a large white circular hall has balustrades with a fish-scale pattern.
Collections
Art collection
The collection spans more than 700 years. Its modern Scottish and international works include pieces by Ken Currie, Gilbert and George, Ivor Abrahams, Bridget Riley, Bruce McLean, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Bulloch Souter, Ian Hamilton Finlay and James McBey. The permanent collection also includes eighteenth-century works by Henry Raeburn, William Hogarth, Allan Ramsay and Joshua Reynolds, and twentieth-century works by Paul Nash and Francis Bacon. It represents Post-Impressionism, a range of late-nineteenth-century developments in painting, and the Scottish Colourists, a group of twentieth-century Scottish painters. Applied arts and crafts are also included.
Pre-Raphaelite works and archaeological finds
Pre-Raphaelite works, associated with a nineteenth-century artistic movement, are displayed on the upper floor, including works by Aberdeen painter William Dyce. The gallery also holds Roman and Egyptian archaeological finds.
