Afternoon at the Art Gallery of Ontario

After the Frank Gehry Renovation

Since coming to Toronto over three years, I really haven’t seen much of ‘tourist Toronto’ (CN Tower, Casa Loma, Science Centre etc) When I compare what is available to do as a tourist here in Toronto compared to other cities that I have visited, Toronto pales in comparison. I have always found Toronto to be a fantastic city to live in, but rather boring one to visit. However after a friend invited me to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), I realized that Toronto may not be so ‘tourist toxic.’ 

I had previously visited the AGO on two occasions once during Nuit Blanche and the other time during the renovations when they had an expo on Andy Warhol. Both times I found the gallery pleasant enough and with good exhibits, but it never seemed to be a gallery of large substance. So I was surprised to see that the AGO was now 5 floors plus a basement with a seemingly unending number of galleries. I spent almost 4 hours there and see did not see everything.

The AGO has a wide range of art, so no matter what kind of art you are into, there is something for everyone (including kids and kids at heart!) Being a fan of modern art and photography I was not disappointed. The fourth and fifth floors are dedicated art from the 1960s to the present. There were several large installations, including golf bag totem poles, a fabric washroom, the famous walking women by Michael Snow and a mysterious cube of metal shavings. Interspersed between these were paintings ranging in subject matter from an almost-too-tall for the room painting of 9/11 to General Idea’s paintings on AIDS.

 However if modern art isn’t your thing – if you didn’t enjoy the Pompidou centre you probably won’t enjoy the 4^th and 5^th floors – don’t worry the 2^nd floor is packed with 19^th-20^th century Canadian Art. I don’t think I had seen before in my life so many paintings by the Group of Seven. It was fascinating to distinguish between their different styles and guess which paintings belonged to which painters. Other famous Canadian painters abounded. Many galleries were solely dedicated to 19^th century ‘Christmas Card’ painter Cornelius Krieghoff. Abstract art by Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean Paul Riopelle was also abundant. Paintings of the associates of the Group of Seven, Tom Thompson and Emily Carr, were also present. There was no doubt on the 2^nd floor that you were in a Canadian art gallery!

Our visit concluded with a perusal of the first floor which included Ken Thompson’s vast European art collection, two smaller rooms of modern art installations, most of the gallery’s European art and some small exhibits on photography. This first floor seemed to be typical of most art galleries I’ve visited – a large collection of religious art and sculptures from the 17^th century, an impressionist gallery and some cubism. I found the photography gallery interesting. There was a good variety of photographs some dating back to the 1840s and some taken of modern industrial projects by Edward Burtynsky.

The one area we didn’t get to visit was the basement. Fortunately, I live so close that I can take advantage of the Wednesday evening free entrance from 6:30-8:30 just enough time see the model ship collection and the Inuit art.

The Art Gallery of Ontario definitely is one of the best galleries I have been to. I was very impressed with the size of the collection and the variety. It belongs in a category along with some must see galleries, like the Joan Miro museum in Barcelona, the Guggenheim in Bilbao and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It is definitely a must see of Toronto!