Public Sculptures and Gardens

The National Gallery of Canada marks the pinnacle of Canadian and international artistic achievement. Designed by Montreal architect Moshe Safdie to look outwards, the Gallery itself offers visitors a unique invitation to explore some of the best visual art in the country – both inside and outside of the building.

Public Sculptures
Made of bronze, sheet metal, carved stone, stainless steel, and even marble, the Gallery’s collection of outdoor sculptures are on display to the general public. Like sentinels of time, these works by outstanding Canadian and international artists — including James Hart, Ugo Rondinone, Michel de Broin, Louise Bourgeois, and Roxy Paine —showcase multidimensionality.

Outdoor Gardens
Landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander worked with Moshe Safdie to create the National Gallery’s indoor and outdoor gardens. Her inspiration for the taiga garden on the southeast side, with its severe northern beauty and muted colours, came from A.Y. Jackson’s painting Terre Sauvage. On the northeast side, a sunken garden of 12 flowering crab-apple trees is surrounded by the living rock into which the building is set. The public walkway next to the sunken garden leads to a path that zigzags up the hill toward Nepean Point.