Winner of the Best Achievement of the Year Award, Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Awards 2012
By scrolling through this page you can discover:
* About the gallery
* What's on now?
* What's on next?
* Discover our events programme
* View our oil paintings online
* Hire our venue
* Previous exhibitions including Atkinson Grimshaw 2011
* Award winning refurbishment
About the gallery
The Mercer Art Gallery is home to Harrogate district's fine art collection which consists of some 2000 works of art, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes works by William Powell Frith, Atkinson Grimshaw, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dame Laura Knight, Alan Davie and many more. The collection is not on permanent display.
The gallery has two spaces, the Main Gallery and the smaller North Gallery. The changing exhibition programme for both galleries ranges from national touring exhibitions of painting, photography, sculpture and crafts to exhibitions from the permanent collections to displays by local artists.
The gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am until 5pm, Sundays 2pm until 5pm.
Admission is free.
What's on now?
In the main gallery:
All Dressed Up: Costume and Fashion in Paintings from the Harrogate Fine Art Collection.
26 January to 7 July
Costume, style and fashion in paintings by William Powell Frith, G F Watts, Dame Laura Knight and more, plus textile art by Serena Partridge.
In the north gallery:
Anne Thalheim: Encasement
until 30th June 2013
Anne Thalheim makes objects of beauty from industrial materials, exquisitely woven together using craft and dress-making techniques, with imagery taken from literature and historic costume.
What's on next?
See our upcoming exhibitions for 2013.
View our oil paintings online
Many of the works from the Harrogate Fine Art Collection are part of the BBC Your Paintings project.
View these works online
Interested in hiring the gallery for a private group visit?
Find out more 2011 refurbishment
Last year the interior of the gallery was completely refurbished with funds from Harrogate Borough Council, the Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery and the Stanley and Audrey Burton Trust.
The opening shows were Atkinson Grimshaw: Painter of Moonlight and Chasing the Gloaming: Photography by Liza Dracup. Refurbishment and exhibitions enjoyed intensive media coverage and attracted 36,000 visitors in just 4 months from all over the UK.
Our achievement was awarded with a Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Award for Best Achievement in 2012.
Blockbuster shows
Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery has developed a reputation for putting on major shows by some of the most successful British artists of the nineteenth century.
John Atkinson Grimshaw: Painter of Moonlight (2011)
Find out what you missed in the first show of the Leeds-based Victorian artist in over 30 years.
William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age (2007)
Find out about Harrogate's most famous artist and see some images of his paintings.
Previous exhibition highlights
See film of Anne Desmet RA, an established artist who specialises in wood engravings, linocuts and mixed media collages. Anne's work has been shown at the gallery twice.
Urban Evolution in 2009 showcased Anne's work from the previous decade inspired by the urban built environment.
Olympic Metamorphoses in 2012 featured Anne's recent work charting the development of the Olympic village near her home in East London.
Enjoy film of Anne at work