National Galleries of Scotland: Art, Collecting and Public Culture in Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s national art collections are spread across three sites: a neoclassical gallery on the Mound near Princes Street, a red sandstone portrait gallery on Queen Street, and the modern art galleries on Belford Road. Together they form the National Galleries of Scotland, and their history shows how Scotland came to collect, display and share art as a public good. A visit to the National Galleries is part of the itinerary on our Edinburgh Festival Fringe small group tour.

A temple to the fine arts on the Mound

On 30 August 1850 Prince Albert laid the foundation stone of the gallery on the Mound, designed by William Henry Playfair, and described it as a “temple erected to the Fine Arts”. Playfair died in 1857, and the gallery opened to the public in 1859. Its neighbour on the Mound, the Royal Institution, was also designed by Playfair and had been the headquarters of the Board of Manufacturers since 1822. Our article on Georgian architecture explains the classical tradition from which Playfair’s neoclassical design grew.

1906: a national institution with a public purpose

The modern organisation took shape with the National Galleries of Scotland Act of 21 December 1906. The Act changed the use of the buildings on the Mound, giving the Royal Scottish Academy indefinite tenancy of the Royal Institution building, which became known by the Academy’s name. It also created a Board whose functions included caring for and adding to the collections, exhibiting them to the public, making them available for study and research, and “generally promoting the public’s enjoyment and understanding of the Fine Arts”. Under the Act, the Board could not dispose of objects by sale, exchange or gift except under strict exemptions.

What are the highlights of the Scottish National Gallery?

The Scottish National Gallery’s highlights range from Scottish portraiture to the old masters. Henry Raeburn’s The Skating Minister is one of its celebrated paintings. Antonio Canova’s sculpture The Three Graces was jointly acquired with the Victoria and Albert Museum and is shown in rotation. The collection also includes Titian’s Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon, the latter bought jointly with the National Gallery in London, Vermeer’s Christ in the House of Martha and Mary and Botticelli’s Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child.

Scottish art given a new home

In 2023 Scottish art gained a prominent new setting. After a seven-year project costing £38.62 million, new Scottish galleries opened to the public on 30 September 2023 on the lower level of the gallery on the Mound. Across 12 galleries, they present Scottish art from 1800 to 1945, more than doubling the display space for Scottish art. Featured artists include the Scottish Colourists, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and The Four, the Glasgow Boys and William McTaggart, and the displays close with Edwin Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen.

The project also opened the galleries to the city. A new entrance from East Princes Street Gardens makes them much more visible, and a long gallery with windows onto the gardens sets painted Edinburgh landscapes beside the real view outside. For more on how the gardens and the Mound fit into the city, see our guide to Edinburgh.

When can you see the Turner watercolours?

In January. The gallery holds a sizeable collection of watercolours by J. M. W. Turner, including the Vaughan Bequest of 38 works, which is traditionally displayed in January. Travellers visiting in August will see other parts of the collection instead.

Faces of the nation: the Portrait gallery

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1882 and opened to the public in 1889. John Ritchie Findlay, proprietor of The Scotsman, led much of the campaigning and fundraising and donated the building, a red sandstone Gothic Revival design by Robert Rowand Anderson built between 1885 and 1890. Some accounts describe it as the first building in the world designed specifically as a portrait gallery. In 1898 William Hole painted a processional frieze in its entrance hall depicting notable Scots from Saint Ninian to Robert Burns. After a refurbishment by Page\Park Architects, it reopened as Portrait on 1 December 2011.

Modern art on Belford Road

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art was founded and opened in August 1959 at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden, and most of its collection was acquired after 1960. In 1984 it moved to Belford Road, into the former John Watson’s School. In 1999 the Dean Gallery, now known as Modern Two, opened in a former orphanage designed by Thomas Hamilton in 1831; it houses Eduardo Paolozzi’s gift of his own work and the galleries’ Dada and Surrealism collection.

Are the National Galleries of Scotland free?

Yes. All three of the National Galleries of Scotland’s sites are free to visit, although charges may apply for special exhibitions and events.

The galleries on a small group tour

The tour is based in Edinburgh for eight nights in August, when the city’s festivals bring art onto its streets and stages; our story of how Edinburgh became a festival city explains how. After a Fringe orientation with the Program Leader, the group visits the National Galleries of Scotland, and the itinerary also includes the National Museum of Scotland. Tickets to four Fringe performances are included, with selections confirmed once the programme is published, and two free days leave time to explore Portrait or the modern art galleries.

How much walking does the tour involve?

Around 3 to 5 kilometres a day, some of it on uneven surfaces. The tour is graded Level 1, Introductory to Moderate.

More on Edinburgh and Scotland

Our guide to places to visit in Edinburgh off the beaten track suggests quieter corners, and our country spotlight on Scotland sets the capital in its national context. Our Edinburgh Festival Fringe article explains the festival itself, our piece on Old Town and New Town Edinburgh shows how the Mound joins the two halves of the city, and our account of the Scottish Enlightenment in Edinburgh introduces the age that shaped the New Town. To see the nation’s art during the city’s busiest month, join our nine-day Fringe tour in a small group of up to 16.