Located at Georgia and Howe and backing onto Robson Square, the Vancouver Art Gallery is a beautiful building. It’s full of paintings, sculptures and other art.
In this article you’ll find the following information about the following topics:
Hours & Admission | Location | Plaza & Events | The Building | North Plaza | Future Building | Tips & Advice | Other Information
Vancouver’s Art Gallery
Next door to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery is one of Canada’s largest and most significant art galleries. It has a permanent collection of over 10,000 pieces of art, although usually only a tiny percentage is on display at any given time.
The collection comprises numerous works by BC and Vancouver artists. It has one of North America’s best photographic collections. It’s also home to the most significant collection of Emily Carr’s paintings in Canada, as well as many of this famous BC artist’s drawings and ceramic works.
The works of many other Canadian and internationally-renowned artists are also at the gallery. As many as 600,000 people visit the attraction each year.
Hours and Admission Rates
As of January, 2024, the gallery’s hours of operation are the following:
- Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays – 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
- Thursdays and Fridays – 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
- Tuesdays – Closed
General admission is $29 for adults and free for everyone under the age of 19. Gallery members and attendants for people with disabilities also get free admission.
Visitors can buy tickets online at set times at one hour intervals, which means only a certain number of people can go in at a time.
Note: The museum used to be open on Tuesday evenings at which time admission was by donation. As of May, 2023, however, the art gallery is no longer open on Tuesday evenings nor does it offer admission by donation any more at that time. Instead, admission is now free on the first Friday evening of the month.
Vancouver Art Gallery Location
Right at the heart of downtown Vancouver, just a short walk from the Vancouver City Centre SkyTrain Station, the art gallery is in a block bordered by Georgia, Howe, Robson and Hornby Streets. The building’s address is 750 Hornby Street.
Georgia is a street lined with some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers. Robson is Vancouver’s most famous street for shopping and Hornby is a favourite for cyclists because of its dedicated bike lane.
At the back of the Vancouver Art Gallery and across the street is vibrant Robson Square at 800 Robson Street. The South Plaza was renovated in 2021. Cars used to be able to drive along the street there, but no longer as of that year.
Art Gallery Plaza and Events
Outside the Vancouver Art Gallery is an open area that hosts a wide range of events during the year. This includes concerts, festivals and protests of all kinds. The North Plaza used to be a lawn, but with all the events and demonstrations taking place the city was smart and got rid of the grass to cut down on maintenance.
In addition to protest gatherings of various sorts, the plaza in front of the gallery is also where you’ll find events like the following:
- The starting line and performance stage during the Vancouver Sun Run in April.
- The Vancouver Japan Market sets up in the North Plaza for a couple days some years.
- Bands playing during the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in mid to late June.
- The Vancouver Thai Festival takes place in the North Plaza outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in the summer.
- The Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Festival is a free event in the North Plaza in the summer.
- Summer Movie Nights take place on Wednesday evenings in the north plaza (šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square) outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in July and August.
- Black Block Party – a celebration of Black culture in šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square in August.
Vancouver Art Gallery Building
The Vancouver Art Gallery is in the beautiful former provincial courthouse building. It’s over 100 years old. Sir Francis Rattenbury designed the building as well as BC’s Legislature and the Empress Hotel in Victoria. Another building designed by Rattenbury is Roedde House which is now a museum in Vancouver’s West End.
Today, from the outside, Vancouver Art Gallery is one of Vancouver’s most significant, impressive and attractive pieces of architecture.
The North Plaza
Various events take place outdoors in the open spaces on the north and south sides of the Vancouver Art Gallery over the course of the year.
Since 2018, the north plaza’s official name is šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square. šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ which is a term used in the local Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish First Nation languages to refer to places where important cultural gatherings take place. The word is pronounced, very approximately, “Hootlacken”.
Future Vancouver Art Gallery Building
A new and modern Vancouver Art Gallery building is in the works. The new site is located at 668 Cambie Street. Designs for the building include an impressive six levels of gallery space. The larger size will allow for more exhibits to be featured at any given time, including the works of Indigenous and Asian artists. There will likely also be a daycare and library.
After many years of planning, construction began in the second half of 2023. The new gallery is scheduled to open to the public in 2028.
Tips & Advice
Below are some suggestions to help you save money and make the most of your visit to the gallery.
TIP #1: Try to time your visit to the Vancouver Art Gallery with a visiting exhibition that meets your interests and tastes. There are a lot of very interesting ones that come to town. Click Current Exhibitions to find out what’s showing now, and Upcoming Exhibitions for what will be on display in the future.
TIP #2: If you like art then you might also want to check out the Contemporary Art Gallery at 555 Nelson Street. It’s a small independent public art gallery and admission is free. Another nice art museum is the Bill Reid Gallery which is just a few blocks away.
TIP #3: There are a number of great museums in the Lower Mainland. If you like history and boats, then a good one to check out is the Vancouver Maritime Museum. In 2022 (and maybe in future years too), if you booked your tickets online for that museum and used the promo code BESTVANCOUVER you could have saved yourself 25% on admission.
Other Information
For more information about the attraction, see the Vancouver Art Gallery website.
If you like art, especially photographic art, another place to check out is the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. It’s nowhere near as large or as extensive as the Vancouver Art Gallery. It’s interesting though and admission is by donation. There is also the Pacific Arts Market which is a gallery and art store at 1448 West Broadway.
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