Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

10/08/2026

Good music, fantastic company, great art, and a night at the AGNS. Sounds like a pretty solid plan. 🥂

Come hang out with us for an evening of art, conversation, and a peek behind the curtain at how four icons of Atlantic Realism worked. Get up close with rare sketches and studies by Alex Colville, Tom Forrestall, Christopher Pratt, and Mary Pratt, and see how some of their most celebrated paintings went from an idea to the finished work in the new exhibition The Work Behind the Work. ✨

Plus, there's plenty more to check out while you're here, from the newly rehung Ondaatje Gallery to new exhibitions like Silt and Sugar, and Forshaw Day: Looking Outward.

🎟️ Lock in your tickets now and make a night of it: https://agns.ca/event/fall-2026-exhibition-celebration/.

Special thanks to our partners at Downtown Halifax for helping make this celebration happen!

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Image: Alex Colville, Ocean Limited, 1962 (detail). Oil and synthetic resin on Masonite. 68.5 x 119.3 cm. Purchased with funds provided by Christopher Ondaatje, Toronto, Ontario, the Art Sales and Rental Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Private Donor, 1994.

10/05/2026

On Thursday, October 29, from 7-8:15pm, join us for an evening where a monumental painting meets live music, stories and reflection. 🎶

Mi’kmaw writer and artist Raymond Sewell with musicians Elsa Jayne and Ty Messick will share original songs and stories in response to Kent Monkman’s Miss Chief’s Wet Dream (2018).

It’s a chance to encounter the work from a different angle through other artists’ perspectives. ✨

🎟️ The event is completely free as part of BMO Free Access Thursday Nights (5-9pm), but you'll want to register early to secure your seat: https://agns.ca/event/creative-minds-music-and-storytelling-with-raymond-sewell/.

10/05/2026

The AGNS after dark? Yes, please. 🌝🌚

We’re excited to be part of Nocturne 2026! Come explore the Gallery, take in three exhibitions, and make some art of your own with family-friendly activities throughout the evening.

Check out the full schedule below.👇

📣 COMMUNITY GROUPS & GALLERIES PROJECT
⌗209: Nocturne at the AGNS, by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

📍Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

🗓️ Saturday, October 17, 6PM - Midnight

Explore the AGNS after dark through three exciting and distinct exhibitions, On the Matter of Memory: The Drawings of Harold Cromwell, Silt and Sugar, and The Maud Lewis Gallery, and get creative in our studios with hands-on Nocturne-inspired art-making activities for the whole family.

🔗 To learn more about this project, the artist, and to check out Nocturne's full 2026 festival schedule visit nocturnehalifax.ca

📷 Image courtesy of the AGNS

10/03/2026

10/02/2026

Today marks the birthday of Halifax-born artist, educator, and arts advocate Edith Smith (October 2, 1867 – 1954).

Smith played a huge role in shaping Nova Scotia’s creative scene. As both a teacher and lifelong champion for the arts, she worked tirelessly to open doors for future artists across the province.

Here, she brings out the quiet beauty of the fall scenery. With soft brushwork and no figures in sight, it shows us that art doesn't have to be grand or dramatic to hit home—sometimes intimacy and nature say everything.

Image: Edith A. Smith, Landscape, c 1925. Watercolour on paper. 25.3 cm x 34.8 cm. AGNS Permanent Collection. Gift of Charles A. E. Fowler, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1993.

09/30/2026

In Miss Chief’s Wet Dream (2018), artist Kent Monkman challenges conventional accounts of history, centring Indigenous perspectives in stories that have too often been told through a colonial lens.

Reconciliation begins with truth, with listening, learning, and confronting the past that have shaped this land and continue to shape our lives today.

📖 Read our latest blog to learn more about the histories Monkman brings into view: https://agns.ca/kent-monkman-breaking-waves/.



Images: Kent Monkman, Miss Chief’s Wet Dream, 2018 (detail). Acrylic on canvas, 365.7 × 731.5 cm. Gift of D. R. Sobey, Stellarton, Nova Scotia, 2019.

09/29/2026

Stepping into Joan Jonas: We come from the sea, one of the first things you’ll notice is the presence of mirrors layered across the Gallery. ✨

For Jonas, they’re more than reflections. They create a sense of movement that changes how we experience the installation, bringing visitors, objects, videos, and the surrounding environment into shifting compositions.

Like light moving across water, the reflections shimmer, distort and change as you move through the space. Where you stand reveals different perspectives, making each encounter unique and tying directly into one of the exhibition’s central themes: the ocean. 🌊

🗓️ Don’t miss out—this is your last chance to experience the exhibition in person at the AGNS! On view through Sunday, October 4.

Images: Installation view, Joan Jonas: We come from the sea, 2026. Photographer: Dean Casavechia.

09/24/2026

A first taste of what’s on at the AGNS this week. 🫖

Silt and Sugar features works from the Gallery’s Permanent Collection, including three new acquisitions, exploring the social customs surrounding tea.

Tea and ceramics have travelled across cultures and generations, giving rise to countless traditions and objects along the way. The exhibition brings some of these stories together, from functional household pieces to works that invite a closer look.

Plan your visit. More to discover soon! 🗓️

09/22/2026

In the mid-1960s, Maud Lewis captured the mouth of the Bear River looking towards the Annapolis Basin, with the old one-lane Victoria Bridge stretching across the landscape.

Though the bridge was replaced in 1972, the painting gives us a glimpse of the area as it once was.

With a new season arriving, take a moment to revisit this autumnal scene next time you’re in the Gallery!

🍃🍂

Image: Maud Lewis, Victoria Bridge Scene, c 1966. Oil over graphite on pulpboard. 30.0 x 34.7 cm. AGNS Permanent Collection. Gift of Robin Garland, Italy Cross, Nova Scotia, 2017, with assistance from the Sheldon and Marjorie Fountain Endowment Fund.

09/22/2026

Such a wonderful afternoon! We’re so grateful for the opportunity to share more about Harold Cromwell and his evocative work. 💛