Description: Edinburgh is really a city split in two, the New and Old Town. Out of the two I would say I prefer the New Town as it is less crowded and there are some outstanding art collections. The Dean Gallery is one of the newer art galleries, opening in 1999. The building used to be a hospital building and the reason it was transformed into a gallery was to house the large body of work created by the famous Scottish artist/sculptor, Eduardo Paolozzi. The collection was a gift to the gallery from the sculptor. The largest piece of work is a steel statue standing at 7.3 metres high, touching the ceiling. It is called Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire and is a robotic figure. It is an awesome model and quite scary to look at, it must have taken him ages to weld all the pieces together.
One of the reasons I prefer this gallery to the National Gallery of Scotland is because of the surrealist and Dada collection. Dali and Picasso have always been two of my favourite artists since I was a teenager although I am sometimes disappointed when I see Dali's work close up, not because of the quality of his work but the size. His paintings always seem smaller than what I expect. The collection of literature here is impressive too.
The area of the gallery that really impressed me was the studio of Eduardo Paolozzi. This had been reconstructed and was full of models, books, magazine and all things inspirational.
Dean Gallery also holds temporary exhibitions featuring individual artists and artistic schools like the Scottish Colourists.
If you feel a bit peckish after a tour of the gallery there is a modern cafe serving snacks and lunches. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is bustling, probably best to arrive early to get a seat at lunch time as the cafe is very popular. On sunnier days you are allowed to sit outside in a picnic area to eat your lunch. The garden area belonging to the gallery is very attractive and particularly pleasingto me as there are lots of weird and wonderful statues.
Dean Gallery is located in Dean Village. You can find the building and garden at 73 Belford Road.
Opening Times: Daily, 10am until 5pm
Close