The Gallery has reopened to the public on July 18. Please check out our FAQ to read our safety measures.
Free admission for 25,000 visitors to the National Gallery of Canada
July 21, 2020
The National Gallery of Canada announced today that as of this Thursday, July 23, admission will be free for the first 25,000 people who visit the Gallery.
“Thanks to the generous support of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, the Gallery will be able to offer free access to its entire national collection and special exhibitions for 25,000 members of our community,” said National Gallery of Canada Director and CEO, Dr. Sasha Suda.
“We’ve reoriented the visitor journey to make physical distancing clearer and easier. Our staff will be wearing personal protective equipment and hand sanitizers and masks are readily accessible. We hope people will take this opportunity to enjoy our many beautiful and thought-provoking artworks—bring your friends and your family and enjoy a day out with art,” she added.
“It is our distinct pleasure to make free admission to the Gallery possible. Through this support from the Distinguished Patrons of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, we are helping the Gallery to extend a very wide, warm, and accessible welcome. We hope that visitors will find comfort and inspiration amid the Gallery’s art-filled spaces,” said National Gallery of Canada Foundation Chair of the Board of Directors, Ann Bowman.
Free admission to the Gallery coincides with the reopening of acclaimed international Indigenous art exhibition Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel. Extended until October 4, the exhibition features works in all media—drawing, media arts, monumental installations, painting, photography, and sculpture—by more than 60 artists from some 40 nations, ethnicities and tribes from 16 countries, including Canada.
Visitors to the Gallery will have one last opportunity to view Tepkik, a colourful and symbolically rich work by Mi’kmaq artist Jordan Bennett depicting the Milky Way, as well as the large murals of the Tribal Women Artists Cooperative in Hazaribagh, India. Titled Khovar and Sohrai Mural Painting from Jharkhand, India [2019], the latter were created in situ last fall. The works will be removed later in August.
The public is invited to review the Gallery’s safety measures and full programming details at gallery.ca.