Toronto’s Top 10 : Art Gallery of Ontario

by

Founded in 1900 and now one of the most prominent art
museums in North America, the wide-ranging Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)
has over 68,000 works. The outstanding pieces of Canadian art, in
particular paintings by the Group of Seven, are a national treasure.
Along with superb Henry Moore plasters, bronzes, and other works, the
gallery exhibits significant masterpieces of European art, from
paintings by Tintoretto and Frans Hals to Vincent van Gogh and Pablo
Picasso. A major renovation, designed by architect Frank Gehry, was
completed in November 2008. It includes a free contemporary gallery with
rotating exhibits, accessible at street level during gallery hours.

  • 317 Dundas St W

  • 416 979 6648


  • www.ago.net

  • Open 10am–8:30pm Wed–Fri, 10am–5:30pm Sat, Sun & Tue.

  • Check website for further details during renovation works

  • Adm: $18 adults; $10 youths and students; $15 senior citizens; $45 family ticket; under 5s free


The Grange

This elegant
Georgian mansion, the city’s oldest standing brick house, was built in
1817, when Toronto was just the small town of Muddy York in Upper
Canada. The owners, D’Arcy Boulton Jr., and his wife, Sarah Anne, were
prominent members of the elite. Their grand home, resembling an English
country manor, with a staff of 10, was a focal point of the town’s
social life. Period furnishings, which include a pianoforte, lap desk,
and sleigh bed, occupy the first and second floors of the mansion, while
the aroma of bread baking in the 19th-century brick oven wafts through
the below-ground working kitchen.


The AGO offers a lower
level café with a family-friendly light lunch menu and a casual chic
restaurant featuring regional Canadian cuisine.


Browse the Gallery Shop
for specialty gifts, reproductions from the gallery’s collection,
posters, books, and handcrafted jewelry.


Join one of the free
tours for extra insight into the collections and exhibits. Call the
What’s On tour hotline at 416 979 6649 for daily listings.


General admission to the gallery is free every Wednesday, 6–8:30pm, a fee may be charged for entrance to some exhibits


Nearby underground pay parking is available at Village by the Grange, on McCaul Street south of Dundas Street

Top 10 Collections

  1. The Grange

    This
    Georgian mansion was the Art Gallery of Ontario’s first home. Restored
    to the period 1834–40, it gives a taste of what life was like for
    Toronto’s privileged class in the mid-19th century.




    The Grange

  2. Henry Moore

    The
    world’s largest public collection of works by British artist Henry
    Moore (1898–1986) encompasses bronze sculptures, plaster and bronze
    maquettes, drawings, and prints. His monumental Large Two Forms broods outdoors, with its surface now worn smooth by admirers’ countless rubbings.




  3. Group of Seven

    Iconic
    scenes of the Canadian landscape epitomize this deeply influential
    group of painters who strove, in the 1920s, to create a national
    artistic identity. The collection features signature work by A. Y.
    Jackson, Lawren Harris, and Tom Thomson, who died before the group
    officially banded together.

  4. French Impressionists

    Claude
    Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are just some of the
    19th-century artists whose masterpieces grace this estimable
    collection.

  5. 20th-Century Canadian

    Major
    works by Betty Goodwin, Joanne Tod, and Elizabeth Magor demonstrate the
    strength and diversity of contemporary Canadian artists. Conceptual art
    is represented by Michael Snow, Jeff Wall, and Paterson Ewen, who
    painted on plywood gouged with an electric router.

  6. Contemporary

    Abstract
    Expressionist, Pop, Minimal, and Conceptual examples illustrate the
    evolution of late-20th-century art in North America and Europe.

  7. Thomson Collection

    The
    largest philanthropic cultural gift in Canadian history, these 2,000
    works add remarkable depth to the AGO’s collection, with emphasis on Tom
    Thomson and the Group of Seven, 19th-century painters Cornelius
    Krieghoff and Paul Kane, and the work of 20th-century radical abstract
    expressionists Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean-Paul Riopelle.

  8. Prints and Drawings

    The
    works in this collection range from the 15th to 21st centuries and
    include important Italian, Dutch, German, French, and British pieces. Adam and Eve
    (1504) by German etcher Albrecht Dürer is a highlight. Works by
    Canadian artists also have a strong presence. Selected pieces can be
    viewed in the Marvin Gelber Study Centre.

  9. Photography

    This
    broad collection showcases historic calotypes by Linnaeus Tripe and
    work by 20th-century modernist Josef Sudeck, plus photographs from the
    1930s presses. International works round out the collection.

  10. Inuit Art

    This
    fine collection of works produced after World War II includes
    sculptures, prints, and wall hangings crafted from indigenous materials.