Art Gallery of Nova Scotia — Attraction in Halifax

Located up a few blocks from the waterfront is this museum. Awkwardly separated between 2 old and dark buildings, one must trounce up / down many flights of stairs, with exhibits spread across mostly small, weird sized rooms clearly designed for other original purposes. Compared to other museums we visited, this was expensive (12CAD / $9USD each) for the size and offerings (this was a 30 minute visit for us). The Maud Lewis exhibit was great and worth half the admission price alone, but most of the rest was of mixed results for us (granted all art is super subjective to the beholder). Two large modern art exhibits take up the largest viewing area amongst the facilities. Despite guidebooks saying this museum owned a large collection of Annie Leibovitz photographs, not a SINGLE one was on display. Instead we got plastic iceberg floor art and a number of unknown artist (literally) paintings. A significant amount of First Nation art is displayed here, which is wonderful to have it supported and displayed, but the volume of it here may not be what the average person expects in a generic art museum that doesn't advertise that as a focal area. We saw some stuff we liked and happy to support the arts but we likely wouldn't recommend to friends at this price with the current items they...

Despite the many more favorable reviews posted by others, in my opinion the AGNS is a stunning disappointment. The building interior is dark and confusing to navigate and whatever architectural charm it once had is long gone. But the main problem is the collection on display, or rather the lack of same. There is an indifferent jumble of folk art and an equally unimpressive batch of native art. The rest of the permanent collection is tiny and mediocre with only a half dozen worthwhile pieces on display. Although it is said that the Gallery owns some nice historical portraits and Canadian and marine paintings, these have been hidden away for a couple of years and, to the best of my knowledge, there is no schedule to return them to public view. The emphasis now seems to be on temporary exhibitions of often second-tier Canadian artists. To be fair, they had decent exhibitions of Mary Pratt and Ken Monkman, but these are long gone. So what is left is a terrible bore. If you might be expecting something of the level of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, you won't find it at the AGNS. And compared to the major public galleries in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, well there is...

This was my first time at the art gallery of Nova Scotia. I have mixed feelings. I loved the Maud Lewis exhibit. Amazing to see local talent being displayed ... Her house ... Everything about it was awesome. The prime minister cartoon exhibit was fun. But other than that it was quite disappointing. Granted my frame of reference is the AGO in Toronto but even the art that was there wasn't displayed very well. No seating in front of the art for people who want to spend more time in one place. The tour guide had very strong opinions about the art which was a bit disappointing as well. She was not very knowledgeable but definitely expressed her likes and dislikes which was distracting and not a very good experience, for me at least. I'd like to be able to make up my own mind about what I like and not like and not be influenced by someone else especially someone who works at the gallery. Over all ... Meh will I go again not unless there is a special exhibition that I know about beforehand and know...