Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the provincial art gallery for the province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the central downtown region of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with a branch gallery in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

The gallery was founded in 1908 as the Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Arts. It was renamed in 1975 as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In 1988 the gallery moved to the historic Dominion Building, built in 1865, designed by architects David Stirling and William Hay. The gallery expanded in 1998 to include several floors of the Provincial Building located just to the south of Dominion Building. The two structures are separated by Ondaatje Court, a public space that besides being used for temporary exhibitions, contains several large permanent sculptures. Underneath the courtyard is a large underground exhibition room which connects the two buildings.

The gallery has over 14000 works of art in its varied collection, ranging from Nova Scotian folk art to Inuit stone carvings. One of the most popular attractions in the gallery is the restored former home of rural folk artist Maud Lewis. The home was moved from its original location near Digby, Nova Scotia, dismantled, restored, and reassembled in the South Gallery of the AGNS. Most of the home, including the doors, part of the windows, and the wallpaper, was painted for decoration by the artist herself. Many of Maud's paintings reside in the same room as her home.