National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada stands at 380 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, on a bluff above the Ottawa River, facing Parliament Hill across the water. It is the country’s national art museum, and its collection of Canadian, Indigenous and international art is the largest in the country. The gallery was founded in 1880, with the encouragement of the Governor General, the Marquess of Lorne, and it was given a formal national mandate by Parliament in 1913. After many years in other buildings, it moved to its present home in 1988, in a purpose-built complex designed by the architect Moshe Safdie.

The building is itself a major piece of architecture. Safdie combined a pale granite base with a great glass tower that rises like a crystal prism, and the glass lets the light of the river and the city flood in. The central Great Hall is a tall, bright space with a ramp rising to the main galleries and views toward Parliament Hill and the Peace Tower, and the colonnade beside it gives a quiet walk through light. At the entrance plaza, the giant spider sculpture Maman, by the artist Louise Bourgeois, stands on tall legs, and it has become one of the best-known artworks in the capital. Across the street, the twin spires of Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica complete the view.

Inside, the galleries are arranged around themes and periods. Canadian art is a particular strength, with landscape painters such as Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, Emily Carr and many other artists, and a strong collection of Inuit art. Indigenous art is given a prominent place, with galleries devoted to works from First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists, past and present. The collections from Europe, from the medieval period through the Baroque and into the nineteenth century, include paintings by well-known masters, and works from Asia broaden the picture, and modern and contemporary galleries cover twentieth-century movements and current practice.

One of the most surprising rooms is the Rideau Street Chapel, a late nineteenth-century convent chapel with a delicate fan-vaulted ceiling that was dismantled when its building was demolished and reassembled inside the gallery. It is a calm space, quite unlike the glass and granite around it. Temporary exhibitions bring touring shows and new commissions to the building throughout the year.

Visitors can reach the gallery on foot from Parliament Hill and the ByWard Market, and public transit serves the area. For first-time visitors, it is worth choosing a few galleries rather than trying to see everything, and allowing two to three hours. Opening hours and ticket arrangements change, so check the website. The gallery suits art lovers, families and architecture enthusiasts.