Overview of City Art Centre

The City Art Centre, which is located on Market Street, opposite Waverley Station, is Edinburgh's main municipal art gallery. It is home to the city's extensive art collection, but has also played host to a staggering succession of major international exhibitions.

Edinburgh's art collection includes paintings and sculpture from the 17th Century to the present day, for the most part by Scottish artists, including Elizabeth Blackadder (b.1931), J.D. Fergusson (1874 - 1961), Sir William Gillies (1898 - 1973), Edward Hornel (1864 - 1933), John Henry Lorimer (1856 - 1936), William McTaggart (1835 - 1910), Samuel Peploe (1871 - 1935), Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 - 2005), Sir Robin Philipson (1916 - 92) and Anne Redpath (1895 - 1965). The collections also include photographs and tapestries and were extended through a substantial grant from the Scottish Arts Council (1997). Notable exhibitions in recent years have ranged from the Emperor's Warriors (the famous clay figures discovered in China), Michelangelo's drawings, the Gold of the Pharaohs (from Egypt), to the first Star Trek exhibition in Europe.

Originally built as part of the offices of the Scotsman Publications in 1899, the building was used initially as a newsprint store. Later it was used as a warehouse for the fruit-market, which used to lie opposite. It was acquired by the City Council and converted to its current use in 1979, opening the following year.