Mercer Art Gallery is a public gallery in the heart of Harrogate. It houses the district’s collection of mainly 19th and 20th-century fine art, alongside more recent acquisitions of contemporary works. The exhibition program cleverly combines historical works from the collection with contemporary Northern art and also focuses on photography and hosts touring exhibitions.
Notable exhibitions:
- Turner: Northern Exposure (2020)
- William Powell Frith: The People’s Painter (2019)
- Art and Yorkshire: From Turner to Hockney (2014)
- Atkinson Grimshaw: Painter of Moonlight (2011)
The collection has grown out of the first Harrogate Art Gallery, which started in 1930 in a small extension of the library. After serious flood damage to works, plans for a new gallery accelerated in the eighties. The gallery as you see it today opened in 1991. It was funded by Harrogate Borough Council along with the Friends of the Mercer Gallery, English Heritage and a sizeable donation from the sons of water colour painter Sidney Agnew Mercer, whose name it bears.
There are two main galleries as well as a space for talks and events. One of the most popular exhibitions here is the Harrogate Open, a biennial open call for work by artists from the region. Paintings and sculpture are shown alongside photographs, prints, drawings and textiles.
Entrance to the gallery is free. Keep an eye on their website and Facebook page for reopening dates and general opening times.
Website: https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/mercer-art-gallery
Art UK: View works from the collection online
Nearby
Waterman Gallery
McTague of Harrogate
North Yorkshire Gallery Map 