The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is a complex of two large buildings on opposite sides of Belford Road, a short walk to the west of the city centre, which house regular high-profile contemporary art exhibitions and play host to the Scottish National Galleries’ permanent display of works from its contemporary collection. Modern One is the largest of the two exhibiting spaces, and in recent years has held retrospective exhibitions by artists like Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, as well as numerous blockbuster group shows.
It should come as no surprise that Edinburgh is home to one of the most brilliant art scenes in the UK (it hosts literally the biggest arts festival in the world every year, remember?). But we’re not just talking theatres, music venues and museums – we’re talking about galleries.
Here you’ll find famous, long-standing galleries like Scotland’s National Gallery buildings, but there’s a ton of cool multi-arts venues too, like Summerhall and the the City Art Centre. Opportunities for soaking up culture are everywhere in Edinburgh: just make sure you leave enough time for it all. Here are the best galleries in the Capital right now.
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This guide was written by Edinburgh-based Arusa Querishi. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.