Exhibitions at the National Galleries of Scotland

The Gallery of Modern Art: A History - 9th January to 14th April 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-26 00:00:00

In 1908 the Scottish Modern Arts Association was formed with the specific goal of establishing a ‘Gallery for Modern Art' in Scotland. This display will chart the development of the idea by Stanley Cursiter in the 1930s to its eventual realisation in August 1960 when the Gallery of Modern Art opened at Inverleith House. This display forms part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art.

Old Masters: New Masters - 20th January to 28th March 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-02 00:00:00

For the second year running Old Masters: New Masters showcases an exciting collaboration between the National Galleries of Scotland and the Master of Fine Arts Printmaking Course at Edinburgh College of Art. MFA students have visited the Print Room of the National Gallery of Scotland and used works from the collection as a source of inspiration for their own work. This exhibition brings together two ECA students' work with the original prints and drawings that inspired them. Konomi Kaneya and Andy Cumming selected works by Dürer and Alexander and James Nasmyth as a basis for their work. These pieces will be displayed alongside their work in the show cases in the National Gallery Complex Weston Link.

The Printmaker's Art - 20th February to 23rd May 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-01-07 00:00:00

This exhibition presents around 30 works selected from the National Gallery of Scotland's outstanding collection of artists' prints. An artist's print is made by drawing not directly onto paper, but onto another surface, such as a woodblock, etching or engraving plate, or a lithographic stone, before transferring the completed image onto a sheet of paper. The diverse methods of printmaking each achieve distinctive and varied effects which cannot be achieved in any other medium. This display comprises some of the most beautiful and accomplished prints made during the last 500 years, and includes iconic images by Durer, Blake, Rembrandt, Goya, Piranesi, Hogarth, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, and D Y Cameron. These works are counted amongst some of the artists' most important artistic achievements.

Strange Encounters - 27th February to 27th June 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-03-03 00:00:00

For centuries, masks have been used to hide identities or create new ones, always addressing an audience. This display brings together four works by John Davies, Douglas Gordon, Martin Boyce and Robert Colquhoun. Surreal and surprising, they all use the enigmatic appeal of the mask to tell stories which the beholder has to unveil.

Writing and Illustrating for Children - James Mayhew and Catherine Rayner - 8th March to 4th June 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-03-05 00:00:00

This exhibition brings together the work of Catherine Rayner and James Mayhew, writers and illustrators of children's books. James Mayhew, famous for his Katie and Ella Bella books, and Catherine Rayner, creator of Augustus the Tiger and Harris the Hare, will also be running masterclasses for adults and free illustrated storytelling and book-signing sessions for children and families. Two new exciting trails for children and families have also been created to complement this exhibition. Please note that the National Gallery will be closed on 8th and 9th March as a result of industrial action undertaken by the Public and Commercial Services Union as part of a wider national dispute. Therefore this exhibition will be open to the public but the trails will not. All the Galleries will be open as usual on Wednesday 10th March.

ARTIST ROOMS Diane Arbus - 13th March to 13th June 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-03-09 00:00:00

Seventy black and white photographs by Arbus from the ARTIST ROOMS collection, including the rare and important portfolio of ten vintage prints: A Box of Ten (1971).

Confrontation - 9th April to 18th July 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-25 00:00:00

This display is the first Confrontation, a new series bringing together old masters and modern art from the National Galleries of Scotland. Lucas Cranach, a highly prolific court painter and contemporary of the great Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, and Otto Dix, a twentieth-century German artist of the ‘Neue Sachlichkeit' (‘New Objectivity'), make a fitting juxtaposition. Their paintings even depict the same subject, a female nude. Dix was greatly inspired by German old masters and imitated their painting technique. Confronting the two masterpieces presents an exciting opportunity to compare artworks separated by more than four hundred years and to discover striking similarities and transformations.

Dance - 24th April to 6th June 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-01-12 00:00:00

Dance and the intriguing cultures around it have inspired artists since ancient times. As well as being a rich and meaningful subject for artists, dance also presents the interesting technical challenge of capturing the human form in movement. This exhibition explores the theme of dance through key artworks from across the National Collection. It juxtaposes works of art made in very different periods, styles and media, ranging from two beautiful nineteenth-century studies of classical ballet dancers by Edgar Degas, to an exuberant late-1950s linocut by Pablo Picasso. The most recent works, two photographs by Diane Arbus from the ARTIST ROOMS collection jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate, successfully capture the sense of mystery and fascination associated with the dance profession. Dance also unites dynamic studies of high-kicking dancers by Arthur Melville from the National Gallery of Scotland and Walter Sickert from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Diana and Actaeon - 28th May to 27th June 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-04 00:00:00

Celebrating the first anniversary of the nation's acquisition of Titian's Diana and Actaeon, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery in London have organised a tour of the painting to three venues in Scotland in 2010. The painting will be on public display in Aberdeen Art Gallery from 28 May to 27 June, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow from 1 July to 1 August and at the McManus Galleries, Dundee from 6 August to 5 September.

Diana and Actaeon - 1st July to 1st August 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-04 00:00:00

Christen Købke: Danish Master of Light - 4th July to 3rd October 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-24 00:00:00

This important exhibition brings together the most exhaustive selection of paintings by Christen Købke (1810–1848) ever to be shown outside Denmark. Købke was a pre-eminent painter in his country and one of the foremost talents of Denmark’s Golden Age. The exhibition features around 40 of Købke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres. Giving an overview of Købke’s achievement within its cultural context, the exhibition emphasises his exquisite originality and experimental outlook while focusing on the most innovative aspects of his work. Købke’s paintings demonstrate his ability to endow ordinary people and places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer. This exhibition is organised with the National Gallery in London, where it will be on show from the 17 March to the 13 June 2010.

Another World - 10th July 2010 to 9th January 2011

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-26 00:00:00

A comprehensive survey of Surrealist art, bringing together masterpieces by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miró, will be the major summer exhibition at the Dean Gallery in 2010. Another World, the centrepiece of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's 50th anniversary celebrations, will offer a fascinating overview of one of the most important art movements of the twentieth century. The exhibition will include major loans from public and private collections and will offer visitors the chance to see the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's world-famous collection of Surrealist art in its entirety for the first time.

Impressionist Gardens - 31st July to 17th October 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2009-12-04 00:00:00

Impressionist Gardens will be a major international exhibition of around 90 works including loans from collections around the world, and will be the first ever to be devoted to this subject. The famous names of Impressionism will be well represented, with fine examples by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet and Sisley. The exhibition will also examine the continued significance of the Impressionist garden to the generation of artists working immediately after the Impressionists, such as Cézanne and Pierre Bonnard. A final section will examine the spread of the Impressionist garden in the late 19th and early 20th century. European and American artists will feature in this section and will include Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Gustav Klimt and John Singer Sargent. This will be the only UK showing of this exhibition. Organised in partnership with the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.

Diana and Actaeon - 6th August to 5th September 2010

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-04 00:00:00

The Young Vermeer - 10th December 2010 to 13th March 2011

National Galleries of Scotland — 2010-02-05 00:00:00

This winter, three paintings from Johannes Vermeer's early career will be reunited for the very first time. The Young Vermeer will show three paintings created between 1653 and 1656: The National Galleries of Scotland's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, (c.1654-55); The Procuress (1656) from Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; and Diana and her Companions (c.1653-54) from Mauritshuis, the Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague. This display will present a unique opportunity to compare directly these three works and discover more about the development of this celebrated artist.