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The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.

The Gallery is housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive
Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive is a major street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is one of the city's major ceremonial and institutional routes.Running roughly parallel to the Ottawa River, Sussex Drive begins at Rideau Street at the north end of Colonel By Drive, running north and then bending northeast until MacKay Street, where it becomes the Rockclif...
 with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill

File:Model of Parliament Hill.jpgParliament Hill is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario....
. The acclaimed structure was designed by Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, Order of Canada is an architect and urban designer. He was born in the city of Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine now Israel....
 and opened in 1988. The Gallery's former director Jean Sutherland Boggs
Jean Sutherland Boggs

Jean Sutherland Boggs, Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada is a Canada academic, art historian, and civil servant.Born in Negritos, Peru, Peru, Boggs received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College in 1942....
 was chosen especially by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Order of Canada, Order of the Companions of Honour, Queen's Counsel, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada , was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984....
 to oversee construction of the national gallery and museums.

Marc Mayer was named the museum's director, succeeding Pierre Théberge, on December 8, 2008.

History
The Gallery was first formed in 1880 by Canada's Governor General
Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the viceroy representative in Canada of the Monarchy of Canada, who is the head of state. Canada is one of sixteen Commonwealth realms, all of which share the same person as their respective sovereign....
 John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, and, in 1882, moved into its first home on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill

File:Model of Parliament Hill.jpgParliament Hill is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario....
 in the same building as the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the supreme court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal Appeal, and its decisions are stare decisis, binding upon all lower courts of...
.






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The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.

The Gallery is housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive
Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive is a major street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is one of the city's major ceremonial and institutional routes.Running roughly parallel to the Ottawa River, Sussex Drive begins at Rideau Street at the north end of Colonel By Drive, running north and then bending northeast until MacKay Street, where it becomes the Rockclif...
 with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill

File:Model of Parliament Hill.jpgParliament Hill is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario....
. The acclaimed structure was designed by Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, Order of Canada is an architect and urban designer. He was born in the city of Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine now Israel....
 and opened in 1988. The Gallery's former director Jean Sutherland Boggs
Jean Sutherland Boggs

Jean Sutherland Boggs, Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada is a Canada academic, art historian, and civil servant.Born in Negritos, Peru, Peru, Boggs received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College in 1942....
 was chosen especially by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Order of Canada, Order of the Companions of Honour, Queen's Counsel, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada , was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984....
 to oversee construction of the national gallery and museums.

Marc Mayer was named the museum's director, succeeding Pierre Théberge, on December 8, 2008.

History


The Gallery was first formed in 1880 by Canada's Governor General
Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the viceroy representative in Canada of the Monarchy of Canada, who is the head of state. Canada is one of sixteen Commonwealth realms, all of which share the same person as their respective sovereign....
 John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, and, in 1882, moved into its first home on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill

File:Model of Parliament Hill.jpgParliament Hill is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario....
 in the same building as the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the supreme court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal Appeal, and its decisions are stare decisis, binding upon all lower courts of...
. In 1911 the Gallery moved to the Victoria Memorial Museum, now the home of the Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature

The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing....
. In 1913 the first National Gallery Act was passed outlining the Gallery's mandate and resources. In 1962 the Gallery moved to a rather nondescript office building on Elgin Street
Elgin Street (Ottawa)

Elgin Street is a street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin....
. Adjacent to the British High Commission
High Commission of the United Kingdom in Ottawa

The High Commission of the United Kingdom in Ottawa is the main diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in Canada. It is located at 80 Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, across the street from the National Arts Centre and not far from Parliament Hill....
, the building now serves as office space for various governments departments, especially the Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)

The Department of National Defence, frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the Ministry within the government of Canada with responsibility for Canada's military, known as the Canadian Forces....
. It moved into its current building on Sussex Drive in 1988, beside Nepean Point
Nepean Point

Nepean Point is a hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, overlooking the Ottawa River, Parliament of Canada, the Museum of Civilization, and other features of downtown Ottawa and Gatineau....
.

In 1985 the newly created Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography

The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography is a art museum of Canada's best art photography and documentary photography photography. Founded in 1985 and affiliated to the National Gallery of Canada, it is located at 1 Rideau Canal, Ottawa, tucked in beside the Chateau Laurier and overlooking the Rideau Canal....
 (CMCP), formerly the Stills Photography Division of the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes innovative, socially relevant documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions....
, was affiliated to the National Gallery. The CMCP's mandate, collection and staff moved to its new location in 1992, at 1 Rideau Canal, next to the Château Laurier
Château Laurier

The Fairmont Ch?teau Laurier is a landmark hotel in downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Ch?teauesque style....
. In 1998 the CMCP's administration was amalgamated to that of the National Gallery's.

Collection

Sculpture Courtyard in National Gallery 2005
The Gallery has a large and varied collection of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photographs. Although its focus is on Canadian art, it holds works by many noted European artists. It has a strong contemporary art
Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since World War II....
 collection with some of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an United Statesn Painting, Printmaking, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the Art movement known as pop art....
's most famous works. In 1990 the Gallery bought Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman

Barnett Newman was an United States artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters....
's Voice of Fire
Voice of Fire

Voice of Fire is an acrylic on canvas painting made by United States painter Barnett Newman in 1967.The purchase of Voice of Fire by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa for its permanent collection in 1989 at a cost of $1.8 million caused a storm of controversy, as the painting consists only of a red stripe on a blue background...
 for $1.8 million, causing a storm of controversy as the painting was no more than three strips of paint. Since that time its value has appreciated sharply, however. In 2005 the Gallery acquired a painting by Italian Renaissance painter Francesco Salviati
Francesco de' Rossi (Il Salviati)

Francesco de' Rossi was an italy Mannerism painter from Florence, also active in Rome. He is known by many names, prominently the adopted name Francesco Salviati or as Il Salviati, but also Francesco Rossi and Cecchino del Salviati....
 for $4.5 million.

Also in 2005 a sculpture of a giant spider, Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois is an artist and sculptor. Her most famous works are possibly the spider structures, titled Maman, from the last dozen years....
's Maman, was installed in front of the Gallery.

The Canadian collection holds works by Tom Thomson
Tom Thomson

Thomas John Thomson was an influential Canada artist of the early 20th century. He directly influenced a group of painters that would come to be known as the Group of Seven , and though he died before they formally formed, he was included as a member....
 and the Group of Seven
Group of Seven (artists)

The Group of Seven were a group of Canada Landscape art Painting in the 1920s, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A....
 as well as Emily Carr
Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and Canadian literature heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her as a "Canadian icon"....
 and Alex Colville
Alex Colville

David Alexander Colville, Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Order of Canada, Order of Nova Scotia is a Canada painter.Colville's family moved from Toronto to Amherst, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia in 1929....
.

The Gallery organizes its own exhibits which travel across Canada and beyond, and hosts shows from around the world, often co-sponsored with other national art galleries and museums.

The Gallery's collection has been built up through purchase and donations. Much of the collection was donated, most notable are the British paintings donated by former Governor General Vincent Massey
Vincent Massey

Charles Vincent Massey , Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Order of Canada, Order of the Companions of Honour, Canadian Forces Decoration, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada...
 and that of the Southam family.

Noted works


Ngc Maman


The largest work in the Gallery is the entire interior of the Rideau Street Chapel
Rideau Street Chapel

The Rideau Street Chapel was part of the Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was demolished in May of 1972, but its interior was salvaged, due to a public appeal to preserve the architectural beauty it displays....
, the ornate chapel of a demolished girls' school, which also features Cardiff's Forty-Part Motet.

  • A Woman at her Toilet by Rembrandt Van Rijn
  • Brillo by Andy Warhol
    Andy Warhol

    Andrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an United Statesn Painting, Printmaking, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the Art movement known as pop art....
  • Composition No. 12 with Blue by Piet Mondrian
    Piet Mondrian

    Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, after 1912 Mondrian, , was a Dutch people Painting.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg....
  • Entombment of Christ by Peter Paul Rubens
    Peter Paul Rubens

    Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality....
  • Eve, the Serpent and Death
    Eve, the Serpent and Death

    Eve, the Serpent and Death is among the most important paintings of the German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung . A date for the picture has been much debated, with proposals ranging from the early 1510s to between 1525 and 1530....
     by Hans Baldung
    Hans Baldung

    Hans Baldung, known as Hans Baldung Grien/Gr?n . Germany Renaissance artist as Painting and printmaker in woodcut. He was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht D?rer....
  • Forest
    Forest (painting)

    Forest is a painting by France Painting Paul C?zanne. An oil on canvas, it represents a wooded area close to Aix-en-Provence. It is currently in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada....
     by Paul Cézanne
    Paul Cézanne

    Paul C?zanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist Painting whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century....
  • Forty-Part Motet by Janet Cardiff
    Janet Cardiff

    Janet Cardiff is a Canadian Installation art artist. Born in Brussels, Ontario in 1957 Cardiff studied at Queen's University where she graduated in 1980....
  • Gala and The Angelus of Millet Before the Imminent Arrival of the Conical Anamorphoses by Salvador Dalí
    Salvador Dalí

    Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal? i Dom?nech, 1st Marquis of P?bol was a Spain Catalonia surrealist painter born in Figueres.Dal? was a skilled Technical drawing, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealism work....
  • Hay Harvest at Éragny
    Hay Harvest at Éragny

    Hay Harvest at ?ragny is a 1901 painting by France Impressionism Painting Camille Pissarro depicting the hay harvest in the Commune in France of ?ragny-sur-Epte. It is currently in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada....
     by Camille Pissarro
    Camille Pissarro

    Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist Painting. His importance resides not only in his visual contributions to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, but also in his patriarchal standing among his colleagues, particularly Paul C?zanne and Paul Gauguin....
  • Hope I by Gustav Klimt
    Gustav Klimt

    Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolism and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau movement. His major works include paintings, murals, Sketch , and other art objects, many of which are on display in the Vienna Secession gallery....
  • Iris by Vincent Van Gogh
    Vincent van Gogh

    Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch people Post-Impressionism artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art....
  • Jack Pine
    Jack Pine (painting)

    The Jack Pine is a well-known 1916 oil painting by Canadian artist Tom Thomson. It is part of the collection of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario....
     by Tom Thomson
    Tom Thomson

    Thomas John Thomson was an influential Canada artist of the early 20th century. He directly influenced a group of painters that would come to be known as the Group of Seven , and though he died before they formally formed, he was included as a member....
  • The North American Iceberg by Carl Beam
    Carl Beam

    Carl Beam R.C.A., , made Canadian art history as the first artist of Native Ancestry , to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as Contemporary Art....
  • Maman
    Maman

    Maman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high, with a sac containing marble eggs....
     by Louise Bourgeois
    Louise Bourgeois

    Louise Bourgeois is an artist and sculptor. Her most famous works are possibly the spider structures, titled Maman, from the last dozen years....
  • Meadow and Farm of Jas de Bouffan by Paul Cézanne
    Paul Cézanne

    Paul C?zanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist Painting whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century....
  • Memories of My Youth by Marc Chagall
    Marc Chagall

    Marc Chagall ; [shuh-GAHL] , was a Jewish Russians artist, born in Belarus and naturalized France in 1937, associated with several key art movements and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century....
  • No. 29 by Jackson Pollock
    Jackson Pollock

    Paul Jackson Pollock was an influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionism movement. In October 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner....
  • Nude on a Yellow Sofa by Henri Matisse
    Henri Matisse

    Henri Matisse was a France artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid, brilliant and original draftsmanship. As a drawing, printmaking, and Sculpture, but principally as a Painting, Matisse is one of the best-known artists of the 20th century....
National Gallery of Canada Glass Tower 2005
* Jean-Pierre Hoschedé et Michel Monet au bord de l'Epte by Claude Monet
Claude Monet

Claude Monet also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude Oscar Monet was a founder of French impressionism painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting....
  • Perspective: Madame Récamier by David by René Magritte
    René Magritte

    Ren? Fran?ois Ghislain Magritte was a List of Belgians surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images....
    , parodying the Portrait of Madame Récamier
    Portrait of Madame Récamier

    The Portrait of madame R?camier is an 1800 portrait of Juliette R?camier by Jacques Louis David showing her reclining on an empire style sofa in an empire line dress as a modern vestal virgin....
  • Bust of Pope Urban VIII
    Pope Urban VIII

    Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was Pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last Pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions....
     by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
    Gian Lorenzo Bernini

    Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was a pre-eminent Baroque sculpture and architect of 17th Century Rome....
  • Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds by John Constable
    John Constable

    John Constable was an England Romanticism painting. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape art of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home?now known as "Constable Country"?which he invested with an intensity of affection....
  • Still-life: Flowers by Vincent Van Gogh
    Vincent van Gogh

    Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch people Post-Impressionism artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art....
  • Study for Portrait No. 1 by Francis Bacon
    Francis Bacon (painter)

    Francis Bacon was an Ireland born British figurative painter. Bacon's artwork is known for its bold, austere, homoerotic and often violent or nightmarish imagery, which typically shows room-bound masculine figures isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds....
  • 10 variations on Mao Tse-tung
    Mao Zedong

    Mao Zedong was a China military and politics dictator. Mao led the Communist Party of China to victory against the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War, and was the leader of the People?s Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976....
     by Andy Warhol
    Andy Warhol

    Andrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an United Statesn Painting, Printmaking, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the Art movement known as pop art....
  • The Death of General Wolfe
    The Death of General Wolfe

    The Death of General Wolfe is a well-known 1771 painting by Anglo-American artist Benjamin West depicting the final moments of British General James Wolfe during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham....
     by Benjamin West
    Benjamin West

    Benjamin West Royal Academy was an England-United States Painting of historical scenes around and after the time of the American Revolution. He was the second president of the Royal Academy serving from 1792 to 1805 and 1806 to 1820....
  • The Mechanic by Fernand Léger
    Fernand Léger

    Joseph Fernand Henri L?ger was a France painting, sculpture, and film director....
  • The Port of Antwerp by Georges Braque
    Georges Braque

    Georges Braque was a major 20th century French Painting and sculpture who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art movement known as cubism....
  • The Small Table by Pablo Picasso
    Pablo Picasso

    Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
  • The Tribute Money by Rembrandt Van Rijn
  • Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder
    Lucas Cranach the Elder

    Lucas Cranach the Elder was a Germany Painting and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was born Lucas Sunder at Kronach in upper Franconia, and learned the art of drawing from his father....
  • Voice of Fire
    Voice of Fire

    Voice of Fire is an acrylic on canvas painting made by United States painter Barnett Newman in 1967.The purchase of Voice of Fire by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa for its permanent collection in 1989 at a cost of $1.8 million caused a storm of controversy, as the painting consists only of a red stripe on a blue background...
     by Barnett Newman
    Barnett Newman

    Barnett Newman was an United States artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters....


Affiliations

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA
Canadian Museums Association

The Canadian Museums Association is a national organization for the promotion of museums in Canada.The Association was established in 1947 by a group of people from Quebec City....
, Ontario Association of Art Galleries
Ontario Association of Art Galleries

The Ontario Association of Art Galleries was established in 1968 to encourage development of public art galleries, art museums, community galleries and related visual arts organizations in Ontario, Canada....
, CHIN
Canadian Heritage Information Network

The Canadian Heritage Information Network is a Canada government-supported organization that provides a networked interface to Canada's cultural heritage, largely through the World Wide Web....
, and Virtual Museum of Canada
Virtual Museum of Canada

The Virtual Museum of Canada is Canada's national virtual museum. With over 2,500 Canadian museums, the VMC brings together Canada's museums regardless of size or geographical location ....
.

External links