Details
Cultural Attraction: Art Museum
Region: Glasgow
Location: 111 Queen Street, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, Scotland UK G1 3AH
Hours:
- 10AM – 5PM Sunday – Thursday
- 11AM – 5PM Fridays and Sundays
Admission: Free
Pet friendly: No (service animals only)
Handicapped accessible: Yes
Restrooms: Yes
DEN Rating: 7/10
Website: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/gallery-of-modern-art
Select photographs in this article are available as custom prints. Click on the shopping cart icon to see print media and sizing options. Click on the square icon for a full-screen view of the image.
Glasgow’s GoMA is a free modern art museum displaying modern and contemporary works on art across four floors. Located centrally in downtown Glasgow, the gallery features works in a variety of media and includes a really cool art studio space on its top floor plus a museum shop with wares inspired by famous works of modern art and works in the museum’s collection. Each floor contains one gallery.
Gallery 1, on the ground floor, contains the current featured exhibition which changes periodically. It’s a fairly big space. When we were there the exhibit was somewhat immersive – a collaboration between two different artists. The subject was fairly dark (war, loss, children mourning) and the lighting in the space matched, partly because film was central to the display.
Gallery 2 is the main display space for the museum’s permanent collection, with works rotated in and out. The theme is “Connecting the Collection”, with pieces displayed adjacent to each other that share some trait in common. The warm wood floors and lighting made the space feel inviting, not stark and cold like some museums. There were a few pieces that I thought I recognized but nothing super famous. Overall it is a solid collection.
Gallery 3 is a short term display space. When we visited it was in between exhibitions.
Gallery 4 was interesting and quite well done. Named “Domestic Bliss”, this gallery presents artwork about the role of women in various cultures especially as it relates to homemaking and various domestic tasks. Some of the works are inspired by everyday chores, while others repurpose the materials of those labors into art. Thoughtfully curated and presented, this large, permanent display includes lots of three-dimensional pieces as well as paintings and drawings.
The museum’s building contains a series of balconies surrounding levels of open space with a skylight roof. The balcony galleries tell the story of the building’s history from its construction in 1776 to its current state as Scotland’s most visited modern art gallery which opened 220 years later. These galleries are fairly small and a bit hard to move through if there are bigger crowds, but they do present a great deal of information in a small space so you tend to stay put for a few minutes at a time.
GoMA’s website is very well done and gives information about what is currently displayed in each gallery. Admission to the gallery is always free and reservations are not needed. Just show up! https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/gallery-of-modern-art
While I’m not a huge fan of modern art in general, I did enjoy exploring GoMA. If the weather is wet or chilly I definitely recommend spending some time here. Since its free you really can’t go wrong!
The Duke of Wellington stands proudly on his steed outside GoMA. He’s worn his trendy traffic cone hat for quite some time now, once the city got tired of taking it off.
Duke of Wellington – H
While I’m sure the Duke of Wellington was known for some great deed or important position which warranted his memorialization with a life-size statue in such a prominent location in downtown Glasgow, but today he’s known as “the traffic cone guy.” Apparently the cone hat was placed on his head one day, and city workers … Read more
