National Galleries Scotland: Modern

— National Galleries Scotland: Modern One
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Established	1960
Location	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Coordinates	55°57′03.09″N3°13′39.23″W / 55.9508583°N 3.2275639°W /55.9508583; -3.2275639
Visitors	356,895 – Modern One 213,042 – Modern Two (2018)[1]
Director	Simon Groom(Director) Anne Lyden(Director General)
Website	nationalgalleries.org

National Galleries Scotland: Modern (theScottish National Gallery of Modern Art) is part ofNational Galleries Scotland, which is based inEdinburgh, Scotland. The Modern houses the collection ofmodern andcontemporary art dating from about 1900 to the present in two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two, that face each other on Belford Road to the west of the city centre.

The Modern has a collection of more than 6000 paintings, sculptures, installations, video work, prints and drawings and also stages major exhibitions.

The firstScottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA) opened in August 1960 inInverleith House, a Georgian building set in the middle of Edinburgh'sRoyal Botanic Garden.

In 1984 the SNGMA moved to the former premises of theJohn Watson's Institution on Belford Road in the west of the city, a largeneo-classical building which was originally designed byWilliam Burn in 1825 as a refuge forfatherless children.^[2]

Inverleith House became a contemporary art gallery, curated by the Royal Botanic Garden, also featuring exhibitions of works and specimens from its historic collections.^[3]

In 1999, the SNGMA's collection had outgrown the Watson's premises, and it expanded into theDean Orphan Hospital, a neoclassical orphanage situated on the other side of Belford Road which had been erected byThomas Hamilton in 1833. The Dean Gallery was converted to a gallery byTerry Farrell and Partners.^[2]

In 2012, National Galleries of Scotland underwent arebranding exercise, and the two Belford Road galleries were renamedModern One andModern Two.^[4][5]

A further rebranding was undertaken in 2023, when the organisation's name was changed toNational Galleries Scotland. The names of the individual gallery buildings were also renamed, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is now billed asNational Galleries Scotland: Modern.^[6]

Modern One, the former Watson's Institution building, presents works from the collection as well as a programme of changing exhibitions. The early part of the collection features European art from the beginning of the twentieth century, including work byAndré Derain andPierre Bonnard,cubist paintings and holdings of expressionist and modern British art. Special highlights include paintings byHenri Matisse andPablo Picasso and theScottish ColouristsSamuel John Peploe,John Duncan Fergusson,Francis Cadell andLeslie Hunter.

The Modern has a renowned collection of international post-war work and an outstanding collection of modern Scottish art. The post-war collection features art byFrancis Bacon,David Hockney,Andy Warhol,Joan Eardley andAlan Davie, with more recent works by artists includingDouglas Gordon,Antony Gormley,Robert Priseman andTracey Emin. The collection also includesARTIST ROOMS, a collection of modern and contemporary art acquired for the nation by National Galleries Scotland andTate with support from theNational Heritage Memorial Fund,the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. The growing collection includes works by major international artists including Andy Warhol,Louise Bourgeois,Robert Mapplethorpe andDamien Hirst. The collection includes the larger ofRoy Lichtenstein'sIn the Car pieces.

The displays change on a regular basis.

• Selected works from the collection
• 
  Fountain (Marcel Duchamp, replica)
• 
  Japanisches Theater (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1909)
• 
  Statue of Diana in the Park (Henri Rousseau, 1909)
• 
  Boats at Royan (Samuel Peploe, 1910)
• 
  Landscape at Cassis (Samuel Peploe, 1910)
• 
  Iona Landscape - Rocks (Samuel Peploe, c.1925)
• 
  Pink Roses, Chinese Vase (Samuel Peploe, c.1916)
• 
  The Mysterious Garden (Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, 1911)

Modern Two (formerly the Dean Gallery) is home to a changing programme of world-class exhibitions and displays drawn from the permanent collection. On permanent display is a recreation of the sculptorEduardo Paolozzi's studio, as well as his 7.3 metre-tall sculpture,Vulcan, that dominates the café. Modern Two is also home to the gallery's world-famous collection ofSurrealism, including works bySalvador Dalí,René Magritte andAlberto Giacometti. The building houses a library, archive and special books collection. The library's great strengths areDada and Surrealism, early twentieth century artists and contemporary Scottish art. The archive contains over 120 holdings relating to twentieth and twenty-first century artists, collectors and art organisations, including the gallery's own papers. The archive holds one of the world's best collections of Dada and Surrealist material, largely made up by the collections ofRoland Penrose andGabrielle Keiller. The special books collection contains over 2,500 artist books and limited edition livres d’artiste, again with a main focus on Dada and Surrealism, but also books by other major artists from the twentieth century includingOskar Kokoschka'sDie Träumenden Knaben (1917) and Henri Matisse'sJazz (1947). This material is available to the public in the reading room, open to the public by appointment. There are regular changing displays in the Gabrielle Keiller library to showcase items from these collections.

Modern One and Two are set in extensive parkland, where visitors can discover sculpture by such artists asIan Hamilton Finlay,Barbara Hepworth,Henry Moore,George Rickey,Rachel Whiteread,Richard Long andNathan Coley. The lawn to the front of Modern One was re-landscaped in 2002 to a design byCharles Jencks. This dramatic work, orLandform, comprises a stepped, serpentine mound reflected in three crescent-shaped pools of water. The façade of Modern One is home toMartin Creed'sWork No. 975, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. Modern One backs on to theWater of Leith river and walkway, which can be accessed by a long flight of steep steps behind the Gallery.

• Selected works in the sculpture gardens
• 
  Master of the Universe (Eduardo Paolozzi)
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  Reclining Figure: Festival (Henry Moore, 1951)
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  La Vierge d'Alsace (Antoine Bourdelle, 1922)
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  L'Empennage (Alexander Calder, 1953)
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  Landform Ueda (Charles Jencks, 2002)
• 
  There Will Be No Miracles Here (Nathan Coley)^[7]
• 
  Untitled (Roger Hiorns, 2010)
• 
  6 Times (Antony Gormley, 2010)
• 
  Work No. 975, Everything is going to be alright (Martin Creed, 2009)

The Modern's director is Simon Groom,^[8][9] who was appointed in 2007.^[10]

Wikinews has related news:

• Reflections, Lichtenstein, two new exhibitions at Edinburgh's Modern One

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (category)

• Artworks at National Galleries of Scotland: Modern and Modern Two
• Paintings at National Galleries of Scotland: Modern, on theArt UK site

• Art museums and galleries established in 1960
• Art museums and galleries in Edinburgh
• Modern art museums
• National Galleries Scotland
• Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh
• 1960 establishments in Scotland
• Neoclassical architecture in Scotland
• Contemporary art galleries in Scotland
• National galleries
• Listed museum buildings in Scotland

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