Beginning as the Royal Manchester Institution for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts, established in 1823, it has been an integral component of Manchester City Council since 1882.
The gallery welcomes everyone free of charge, serving as a space for community discourse and collective creativity, and advocates for art as a tool for fostering beneficial social transformation.
Manchester Art Gallery, previously known as Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly funded museum of art located on Mosley Street in the heart of Manchester, England. The original gallery structure was established for an academic society in 1823 and currently, its exhibitions span across three interconnected buildings, with two of these structures having been designed by Sir Charles Barry.
Both of Barry’s edifices hold listed status. The connector building was conceived by Hopkins Architects after an architectural competition organized by RIBA Competitions. It commenced operations in 2002 after undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion initiative executed by the art gallery.
Access to Manchester Art Gallery is complimentary, and it remains operational six days a week, closing on Mondays. The gallery features numerous works of both local and international importance and possesses a collection exceeding 25,000 items. According to statistics published in April 2014, over half a million individuals visited the museum in a single year.
The gallery boasts an exquisite art collection that includes over 2,000 oil artworks, 3,000 watercolors and sketches, 250 sculptures, 90 miniatures, and approximately 1,000 prints. Additionally, it possesses upwards of 13,000 decorative art pieces encompassing ceramics, glass, enamels, furniture, metal creations, weaponry and armor, wallpapers, dollhouses, and related artifacts.
Manchester Art Gallery excels particularly in its assembly of Victorian artwork, with a notable focus on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood alongside Victorian decorative arts.
The museum features The Picnic (1908), a piece created by British Impressionist artist Wynford Dewhurst, who originated from Manchester. Annie Swynnerton, hailing from Hulme, is represented in the gallery’s collection by 16 pieces, while her contemporaneous colleague from the Manchester School of Art, Susan Dacre, is featured with 17 artworks.
In addition to paintings, the museum maintains collections of glasswork, silver items, and furniture, which include four works by Victorian architect and designer William Burges.
