Manchester Art Gallery

I must start with the fact that I am not that into staring at paintings as much as I am into looking at relics. What I am saying is, I prefer museums to art galleries. I also have a particular aversion to the medieval era paintings where gloom and doom seems to be the recurring theme.
Having said this, Manchester Art Gallery does an amazing job of showcasing some fantastic paintings and putting up guest shows and exhibitions. The building itself is a wonderful architectural piece and well worth spending time in.
The entry is also free, so you can’t really ask for more now, can you.
One thing I am not a fan of, however, not just here but in most places, is the gift shop that sells «souvenirs» for exorbitant prices.
Overall it’s not a bad place to spend a few hours in, especially given the spectacular weather options that our lovely city has to offer.

Manchester is lucky to have such an incredible art gallery in the middle of the city. The museum’s collection and touring exhibitions are of an international standard and there’s always something interesting on display.
The weekly Thursday lates, day time talks, and exhibition opens are definitely worth checking out. It is great that you can just pop in for a few minutes on your lunch break and check out some art. The Tuesday lunch time meditation sessions are also a great way to get a moment of zen in your busy day.

I have visited my fair share of art galleries and this one was one I will remember.
Free entry.
There were some really good things to see here, from 18^th century to contemporary art that you wouldn’t of expected from a gallery.
I really enjoyed the post 19^th century art, mainly that of the nature landscapes.
With 3 floors you can get a good variety of art from clearly talented artists. My only issue was there wasn’t enough to see, nor was there enough contemporary art pieces, as in picture based.
My eyes, however, have been opened up to a different style of art through objects and modern, very easily acquirable items.

Manchester Art Gallery is my very favorite medium-​sized gallery (smaller than Birmingham, bigger than Leeds, Derby and Sheffield) in England. Every time I’ve been to Manchester I spent at least an hour there, often two at a time. Must have been 7 or 8 visits over the past four years.
The gallery always offers intriguing small, free exhibitions and larger ones that you have to pay for (I remember a show of Edvard Munch’s sketches some years ago). Access to the formidable permanent collection is free of charge.
The most impressive part of the permanent exhibit are the 19^th century genre and Pre-​Raphaelite paintings by such luminaries as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-​Jones, John Everett Millais, John William Waterhouse, William Etty, Lawrence Alma-​Tadema, etc), but there are also notable displays on Dutch 17^th century painting (incl.many still lifes) and impressionist and post-​impressionist art. The earliest works in the permanent display go back to the Renaissance and Baroque eras. But the emphasis is very clearly on the Victorian age.
The layout of the gallery is most agreeable, too. On the ground floor you will always find a regional/​local exhibition (whether in terms of an artist’s place of residence or a thematic focus), when you go up the stairs there’s a «ring» of smaller, more domestic 19^th century paintings — and then the two wings to the left and the right which connect in the rear. To the right the first room is always reserved for a temporary focus display, but comprised of artworks from the permanent collection. Then there’s an adjacent new building where you find the Dutch and Impressionist displays, as well as an «interactive gallery», which means it’s a playing ground for the kiddos.
You will also find free lockers (Why can’t all galleries have them?!) and a café on the ground floor, where I once had, I must admit, the very worst «black» (in fact, barely even brown-​colored) coffee of my entire life. ;)
The staff are always very friendly and helpful, and non-​flash photography is allowed in all the galleries (see samples below) — often even in the temporary exhibits of contemporary art!
A great place to spend an hour or two on a rainy, or even a sunny day.

We visited this museum yesterday — and although the collection is rather limited, there are some nice paintings (especially the Pre-​Raphaelites). Also, both the interior and the exterior of the building are lovely. Speaking of the exterior: there’s a small garden on the entrance side of the building and it has a generous number of chaise lounges. It’s called the Lost Gardens and it’s recently become part of the National Trust. It’s really pleasant to sit out there in such a pretty environment. Lastly; we had a wonderful conversation with an art historian (who’s employed by the museum) as we were leaving the building, and he told us many interesting details about two new statues near the entrance.

Only got in here for 5 mins before they closed at 5:(but what I did get to see was so Fab! I feel there’s a lot more to be explored here and will definitely be coming back.
Their ‘lost gardens of Manchester’ exhibition looked amazing so look out for that!
Staff were very helpful and informative about, the displays

The Manchester Art Gallery is a beautiful building which is a great attraction in Manchester and has some amazing wonders of art and some incredible pieces of history. Its set on a few levels so theres loads to see. Its also all free of charge apart from the odd exhibition which you had to pay for. Its well worth a visit though!

Over the years I’ve visited Manchester Art Gallery only a handful of times, yet each exhibition has been interesting and thought-​provoking.
I’d class myself as more of a fan of contemporary art, though there are some truly impressive and beautiful 19^th century paintings hung here (The Sirens and Ulysses is a personal favourite — a macabre fact: the decaying remains of the dead sailors were modelled after real bodies from a morgue). It’s hung next to an original Banksy from 2000, which at first I thought was an audacious stunt but it turns out it’s on loan.
The latest exhibition ‘The Sensory War 1914 – 2014′ which runs until February 2015 explores how artists over the years have communicated the impact of conflict on the body, mind and environment. Some of the pieces are certainly hard-​hitting, so be prepared. It’s definitely something to consider going to see, given it’s the centenary of the First World War.
The two storey building is logically laid out — it’s difficult to get lost and you find yourself meandering around the rooms at your own pace. It’s never felt too busy inside, even with free entry.
Alas it isn’t the biggest of galleries, so you wouldn’t need more than an hour or so to get round, but there is plenty to see and it’s ever-​changing (they have 30,000 items in the collection apparently).
So whether you like Gainsborough or Grayson Perry, L.S. Lowry or Roy Lichtenstein, there’s bound to be a painting or ceramic, a room, or an entire floor that you’ll love.

Literally one of my best place to go when I have nothing to do and that I want to escape. Here you’ll find every kind of paintings from the 17^th century to today. All the paintings are served with those nice explanations that are not boring and quite interesting: you won’t just wander here, you’ll learn and when will come the time to go to bed, you’ ll be glad you did something interesting of you day ! The shop has a great selection of books and there is a restaurant and a café, which I’ve never tried

Manchester art Gallery is a great treasure in Manchester.
The building itself is not massive but the display space has been designed properly to avoid getting lost which usually happens in most galleries and museums. There are 3 floors in Manchester Art Gallery and each floor has two parts which are collected by a path.
The exhibitions in the gallery include two categories: the permanent classics display, and the exhibition programme changing every few months. The classic displays have pre-​Raphaelites, Victorian and some impressionism and Post-​impressionism works etc. The exhibition programme provides the great contemporary arts to the city. The latest exhibition programmes have introduced the artists like Joana Vasconcelos, Ryan Gander, and Perry Grayson and their works.
The great part I love about Manchester Art Gallery is combining the contemporary work into the classics during the exhibition programmes. It’s amazing that you could find a Banksy piece just next to a classic painting.
There is education department, which is designed for family and children. There are also studios designed related to the exhibitions for visitors to participate.
The café in the ground floor is great, with nice coffee and drinks. The cakes and pastries are fresh.
The shop has the best selection of books in arts. The cards, the jewellery, and souvenir are in excellent taste. It’s not only just a gallery shop but a gift shop for special occasions if you want to treat someone with good taste.

Manchester Art Gallery is a beautiful building with an equally attractive modern annex accessed via a cool walkway. Quite a lot of the older collection is not that beautiful or high quality, in my humble opinion, so you may have to wander around it before you find something you like, but the exhibitions are generally very good and the modern art collection is great too. The third floor art, craft and design gallery is easily missed but has some lovely furniture and ceramics. Overall, well worth a visit if you’re in Manchester and like many of our museums it’s free which really is one of the great privileges of living in this country.
Late night opening on Thursday nights is good for those who work, although one time I was visiting during the Grayson Perry exhibition (which was awesome) there was also some horrible band playing so loudly it nearly ruined the experience. I don’t really think things like that are compatible with general museum hours (particularly given Thursday night visitors are often those with limited opportunities to visit) — it would be better to open especially for it another night.

I make an effort to visit a couple of times a year to see the changing exhibits as well as revisit the collections. There’s a good range of styles and the current Joana Vasconcelos exhibition is ace as well as the permanent pre raphaellite collection.
They miss a trick a little on the shop, just not enough high quality items related to the current changing exhibition.