Location: Modern Two (Level 0)
Opening hours: Tuesday to Thursday, 10am–1pm and 2pm–4.30pm
Book a visit: [email protected]
Our Research Facilities are currently open to limited numbers, by appointment. Please do get in touch directly with any enquiries or requests to visit.
The Prints and Drawings Study Room is home to your world-class collection of Scottish and international works of art on paper.
Numbering over 35,000 artworks, your collection of Scottish and international works on paper spans the early Renaissance and ‘old masters’ to the contemporary. It is a vast and rich collection which includes fine art prints, drawings in all media, sketchbooks, watercolours, collages as well as original artists’ printing blocks, plates and equipment.
Our collection of Scottish art is the finest in the world and includes outstanding artworks by David Wilkie, Allan Ramsay, William McTaggart, the Glasgow Boys, Joan Eardley, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Joan Eardley and Anne Redpath. Highlights from the international schools include Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz and Tracey Emin.
The Gallery’s collection of 38 watercolours by J.M.W. Turner, bequeathed by Henry Vaughan in 1900 and exhibited every January (in accordance with Vaughan’s wishes), can be viewed throughout the rest of the year in the Study Room.
Tour of Drawings and Watercolours at the National Galleries of Scotland
Curators of Prints and Drawings Hannah Brocklehurst and Charlotte Topsfield show us some of the highlights of the collection.
Tour of Artist's Prints at the National Galleries of Scotland
Hannah Brocklehurst, Curator of Prints and Drawings gives us a look at some of the highlights of the Print collection. The collection is housed in our Prints and Drawings stores at Modern Two.
Visiting the Prints and Drawings Study Room
The Prints and Drawings Study Room is located on Level 0 of Modern Two and is managed by a small team of curators. Our collections are kept in closed access stores when they are not on display. For this reason, we operate an appointment system and visitors are asked to request material to view in advance by searching the collection online.
Visits are welcome from anyone wishing to view the collection, whether for general interest, curiosity or focused academic study. If you are not sure what you are looking for, or how to find it, please get in touch and one of our team will be able to advise you.
What you should bring:
- Photographic ID, such as a passport or driving licence
- Pencil and paper, if you wish to take notes
- Laptops/mobile devices, if needed
Everything else can be left in free lockers which are available for visitor use.
We ask that visitors to the Study Room respect the collection and take advice from staff on handling and care of objects. There are cloakroom facilities and photography is permitted for non-commercial use. Please let us know if you have any access requirements.
Other resources
Gabrielle Keiller Library
Library and Print Room at the Portrait
