National Galleries of Scotland

National Galleries of Scotland Discover art for you. Explore the National, Modern and Portrait.

šŸ“Edinburgh

www.nationalgalleries.org/about-us/plans-policies/equality Soak up the art.

Art for everyone

We are the National Galleries for Scotland, and our three Edinburgh galleries are the National, Modern and Portrait. We house and care for Scotlandā€™s amazing world-class art collection. Step inside and explore treasures from Botticelli and Titian to the very best modern art and contemporary portraits of pop culture icons. And, as you would expect, the worldā€™s greatest collection

of Scottish art. We are a space for thinking, dreaming, doing, and playing. Meet friends in the cafĆ©s. Have a family picnic surrounded by the sculptures in the Modern grounds. Be inspired by our amazing art films. Enjoy a free event. Choose your own experience. There is no one way to enjoy Scotlandā€™s national collection. We are yours to discover.

It's the final Friday and you know what that means - it's quiz time! šŸŽ‰ How much do you pay attention to the little detai...
28/08/2026

It's the final Friday and you know what that means - it's quiz time! šŸŽ‰

How much do you pay attention to the little details? šŸ”

This month we want to celebrate the hidden, covert and hard-to-spot details you may just miss in our collection. This could be an artistic choice to conceal an area of work or something disguised or removed over the course of its lifetime...

Let us know what new fact you discovered in the comments along with your score!

https://nationalgalleries.typeform.com/to/LGSJm5gH

We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Yayoi Kusama. One of the most iconic artists of the past seventy yea...
27/08/2026

We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Yayoi Kusama.

One of the most iconic artists of the past seventy years, Kusama grew up in Nagano Prefecture, a mountainous region about 130 miles west of Tokyo.

By 1957, Kusama had moved to the United States, settling in New York a year later. Over the next fifteen years, she developed an innovative and wide-ranging practice that challenged and shaped many aspects of Pop Art and Minimalism as they emerged in the 1960s. As well as introducing collage and sculpture to her practice in 1962, following her cycle of abstract Infinity Net paintings (1958ā€“61), Kusama orchestrated performances in public spaces. Known as Happenings, these often involved naked participants covered in polka dots, a motif she went onto use throughout her career.

At Modern One, one of Kusamaā€™s iconic early fabric sculptures is on display. Untitled, dating from about 1965, is an ordinary baking tray, but is not filled with food. Instead, crude ph***ic protrusions wriggle out from their metal container in a haphazard and unsettling manner. This tactile sculpture is knowingly comic and absurd. An accompanying serving spoon daintily offers up a single, squat phallus, as if for consumption. Kusama used bronze spray paint to unify these soft shapes, but in places the different fabrics used for stuffing are visible, including a black and yellow polka-dot textile.

When she returned to Japan in 1975, Kusama voluntarily lived in a psychiatric hospital, making work daily in her nearby studio. She often spoke about how her artistic practice aided her mental health and stated: ā€˜I am pursuing art in order to correct the disability which began in my childhood.ā€™

You can see Untitled at Modern One for free, and the gallery is open daily.

Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026), Untitled, About 1965 Ā© Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner, Ota Fine Arts, and Victoria Miro

Did you catch the Portrait gallery on Edinburgh's season of A House Through Time? In the newest season, David Olosuga c...
26/08/2026

Did you catch the Portrait gallery on Edinburgh's season of A House Through Time?

In the newest season, David Olosuga cracks into our archives, exploring Archibald Burns.

A professional photographer in Edinburgh, best known for his landscape and architectural images

He published an illustrated book in 1868, called 'Picturesque Bits from Old Edinburgh'. This was a photographic guide to the Old Town, which paid attention to social issues such as overcrowding and poor sanitation
Apart from being documentary, Burns's work is quite obviously picturesque. For an added nostalgic look, he often used salted paper which makes pictures appear old and faded.

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer now!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00303cp/a-house-through-time-series-6-edinburgh-episode-2?seriesId=b09l64y9-structural-3-m002zk1t

25/08/2026

Art can shape how we see the world, its people, and its past. From Rene Magritteā€™s play on language and symbols, to Claud Cahun reimagining identity and the body, Surrealist works blur the line between the familiar and the uncanny and challenge our perceptions.

We want to find out why Surrealism still resonates with people today, hearing from contemporary artists Chao Ying Rao and Oana Stanciu, and curator Tor Scott on why ā€˜we can be a bit radicalā€™...

Our Surrealism display is open daily and for free at Modern One in Edinburgh.

Watch the full film Truth in Art film via the link in our bio now!

Produced by National Galleries Scotland and Edinburgh Film Company.

21/08/2026

ā€œMom, Iā€™m not going to bleed for your art!ā€ šŸ­šŸ©ø

For this portrait, Catherine Opieā€™s son, Oliver deliberately padded himself out with extra shirts to recreate the look of an Old Master portrait. The pose takes inspiration from Leonardo da Vinciā€™s Lady with an Ermine, with Oliverā€™s pet mouse, Mrs Nibbles, taking the place of the ermine - who bit him in the process of taking this photograph! šŸ¦·

See Oliver and Mrs. Nibbles in Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, now open at the Royal Scottish Academy building in Edinburgh.

Open daily, book tickets in bio!

Oliver & Mrs. Nibbles (2012), Catherine Opie. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles/Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, Seoul/Thomas Dane Gallery; Ā© Catherine Opie

12/08/2026

Catherine Opie has had a lifelong interest in portraiture.

The starting point was a self-portrait at the age of nine. Flexing muscles and in blooming floral trousers, Self-Portrait (1970) was taken with a Kodak instamatic camera given to her for her birthday šŸŒŗ

Later, Opie was inspired by the power of documentary images during pivotal protests for social change and declared her desire to become a photographer, documenting her own story and others within her community.

Our YouTube film, Moments of Being, follows Opie as she prepares for her show in Edinburgh, reflecting on over 50 years of photography and placing her contemporary portraits in conversation with portraits from the past.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen is now open at the Royal Scottish Academy building in Edinburghā€™s city centre - tickets in bio!

šŸŽµ Music by

As we prepare for a spectacular eclipse tonight, hereā€™s a view of the Moon captured by Professor Henry Draper more than ...
12/08/2026

As we prepare for a spectacular eclipse tonight, hereā€™s a view of the Moon captured by Professor Henry Draper more than a century ago.

Draperā€™s Full Moon is part of our collection - a stereoscopic albumen photograph that reveals the moon in remarkable detail.

If youā€™re heading outside to watch, remember to use proper eclipse glasses or another safe viewing method and never look directly at the sun!

From a photograph in our collection to the real thing above Edinburgh, it's reminds us that sometimes the best gallery is the sky! āœØ

Professor Henry Draper, Full Moon, 1882, National Galleries of Scotland.

07/08/2026

A glimpse into Catherine Opieā€™s family album šŸ“ø

Come face to face with Opieā€™s mentors and collaborators, q***r communities, children, surfers, high school footballers and political crowds that she makes visible through her work, as well as self-portraits of Opie herself.

Journey through 30 years of the artistā€™s work as she questions representations of home, intimacy and family, and explores politics, identity and power structures.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen opens tomorrow, Saturday 8 August at the Royal Scottish Academy building!

Book your tickets through the link in our bio šŸ†

UPDATE ON INDUSTRIAL ACTION The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents some of our visitor facing colle...
05/08/2026

UPDATE ON INDUSTRIAL ACTION

The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents some of our visitor facing colleagues, has announced industrial action this month. Our colleagues, visitors and the art in our care are our highest priorities, so we have made some changes to when our galleries open in August:

- Saturday 8 August: Our summer exhibition, Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, will open as intended from 10am - 5pm at the Royal Scottish Academy. The National, Modern and Portrait galleries, shops and cafƩs will be closed.

- Wednesday 12 August: The National, Modern and Portrait galleries, including shops, cafƩs and the Royal Scottish Academy building, will be closed.

- Sunday 16 August: The Tea Green Summer Market, cafƩ and shop will be open at the Portrait gallery. The National and Modern galleries, the upper floors of the Portrait gallery, the Royal Scottish Academy building and our shops and cafes will be closed.

- Thursday 20 August: The National, Modern and Portrait galleries, including shops, cafƩs and the Royal Scottish Academy building, will be closed.

The grounds and car parks at Modern One and Modern Two will be open as normal throughout.

Our summer families programme at Modern One on Saturday 8 August is also cancelled. However, you can join us on Sunday 9 August, 2 - 4pm for the final free Artist Weekend session.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, will open from 10am - 5pm on Saturday 8 August, then closed on Wednesday 12 August, Sunday 16 August and Thursday 20 August.

Gwen John: Strange Beauties will be closed on Saturday 8 August, Wednesday 12 August, Sunday 16 August and Thursday 20 August.

Between these dates, all our Galleries will be open for you to enjoy.

Thanks for your patience, we hope to see you soon.

01/08/2026

What makes Gwen John one of the most compelling artists of her generation? šŸˆ

Now open at Modern Two, Gwen John: Strange Beauties brings together more than 200 paintings, drawings and archival works to reveal an artist whose quiet, deeply personal approach changed the course of modern art.

In this film, curator Lucy Wood, Rachel Stratton and National Galleries of Scotland curator Charlotte Topsfield share what continues to make Gwen Johnā€™s work so extraordinary - from the strength and tenderness of her portraits to the subtle yet technical beauty that rewards those who spend time looking closely.

Whether youā€™re discovering Gwen John for the first time or returning to a favourite artist, this is an exhibition that invites you to pause, reflect and see the world through her eyes.

Gwen John: Strange Beauties is now open daily at Modern Two. Book your visit via the link in our bio šŸˆ

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The National, The Mound, EH2 2EL
Edinburgh
EH12

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Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 7pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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