Art gallery

From ArticleWorld

An art gallery is usually a building where artworks can be viewed. Such artworks include sculpture, illustration, ceramic art and paintings. Sometimes artworks are also sold in art galleries.

History of art galleries

The first art gallery was the Lourve, which is actually an art museum. The Lourve was established in Paris, France, in 1793. It was there that, after the French Revolution, the people were finally able to view the royal national treasures. Thus began the practice of allowing common people to view fine art as a part of their education in culture.

Sir John Soane designed the architectural art gallery form when in 1817, he created the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The building Soane designed was created large quantities of wall space and specialized lighting, to show off artworks to their best advantage.

The late 19th century saw a boom in the building of public art galleries in Europe an America, being an essential cultural feature of larger cities. Art galleries were built alongside museums and public libraries as part of the municipal drive for literacy and public education.

Twentieth century art galleries, like the Guggenheim, are art forms architecturally in themselves. This creates a controversy over whether the buildings are in competition with the art inside them.

Some of the great museums of the world include the Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, and MoMA, Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Atlanta: High Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, London: National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Museo del Prado in Madrid, and in New York The Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.