About
Arbroath Art Gallery occupies the Corsar and Brothock Galleries on the first floor of Arbroath Library, Angus, displaying artworks from the Angus Council collection alongside touring exhibitions and locally-generated shows in a purpose-adapted civic gallery space within the town's principal library building. The gallery's most notable holdings include two paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Adoration of the Magi and Saint John Preaching in the Wilderness, both on permanent display and giving this modest civic gallery a genuinely significant Old Master presence rarely found in a town-council art collection of Arbroath's scale. Visitors with an interest in Northern Renaissance and Flemish painting frequently make a special trip to Arbroath specifically to see these two works, a striking example of significant international art history surviving within an everyday civic building rather than a national institution.
The wider Angus Council collection displayed across the two galleries includes work by artists such as William Lamb and David Waterson, among other names significant to Scottish and Angus regional art history, reflecting decades of civic collecting and acquisition by the local authority. William Lamb, an Arbroath-born sculptor whose former home and studio in the town is itself preserved as a small heritage site, gives the collection a particularly strong local connection alongside its more internationally significant pieces. The gallery closed for essential refurbishment from January 2025 as part of a wider £300,000 project to prepare Arbroath Library for the relocation of Angus Archives from their previous home at the Hunter Library in Restenneth, near Forfar, into the same building — a project that reopened the fully refurbished library, including the Corsar and Brothock Galleries, on 6 May 2026.
Housed within a working public library rather than a standalone gallery building, Arbroath Art Gallery offers free entry and genuinely convenient civic access, situated in the heart of the town on Hill Terrace and easily combined with a library visit or wider exploration of Arbroath's town centre. This integration with the library, now further strengthened by the arrival of Angus Archives within the same building, gives the gallery a distinctive place within Angus's cultural infrastructure, connecting art display, book lending and archival research within a single civic building serving the town. Because the gallery keeps normal library opening hours rather than a separate visitor schedule, it rewards visitors who check the current library timetable in advance, particularly around the variable Wednesday and Thursday hours and closures on public holidays.
For visitors exploring Arbroath more widely, the gallery makes a natural addition to a day that might also take in Arbroath Abbey's medieval ruins and the maritime and social history displayed at Arbroath Museum in the town's historic Signal Tower, both a short walk away. Together with these neighbouring sites, Arbroath Art Gallery helps give this modestly sized Angus coastal town a cultural offer considerably richer than its size alone might suggest, reflecting sustained civic investment in heritage and culture across several separate institutions.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check current library opening hours, as the gallery follows Arbroath Library's schedule, which varies by day.
- Combine your visit with nearby Arbroath Abbey and Arbroath Museum for a fuller day of local heritage.
- Don't miss the two Bruegel the Younger paintings — a genuinely significant find within a small civic gallery.
- Entry is completely free, making this an easy stop while exploring Arbroath town centre.
- The gallery reopened in 2026 after refurbishment, so displays and layout may be freshly updated from earlier visits.
- Ask library staff for directions to the first-floor Corsar and Brothock Galleries.
Highlights
Two Bruegel the Younger Paintings
The gallery's most significant holdings are two paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Adoration of the Magi and Saint John Preaching in the Wilderness, both on permanent display and giving this modest civic gallery a genuinely significant Old Master presence rarely found within a town council's art collection of Arbroath's scale.
Produced within the celebrated Brueghel dynasty's Flemish workshop tradition, these two paintings predate almost everything else held in the wider Angus Council collection by several centuries. They draw visitors and researchers with a specific interest in Northern Renaissance and Flemish art well beyond Angus itself, an unexpected concentration of internationally significant art history within a working public library building.
The Corsar and Brothock Galleries
The gallery operates across two named spaces, the Corsar Gallery and the Brothock Gallery, both located on the first floor of Arbroath Library, giving the civic art collection dedicated purpose-adapted display space within the town's principal library building.
This dual-gallery arrangement allows the display to combine the permanent Old Master paintings with rotating touring exhibitions and locally-generated shows drawn from schools, community groups and regional artists, giving repeat visitors genuine reason to return as the changing programme refreshes alongside the fixed highlights throughout the year.
The Angus Council Art Collection
Beyond the celebrated Bruegel paintings, the wider Angus Council collection displayed across the galleries includes work by artists such as William Lamb and David Waterson, reflecting decades of civic collecting and acquisition by the local authority on behalf of Angus residents. Lamb, an Arbroath-born sculptor and painter, is particularly closely associated with the town, and his inclusion alongside international Old Master works illustrates the collection's deliberate mix of local and wider significance.
This broader collection situates the gallery's headline pieces within a fuller picture of Scottish and Angus regional art history, giving visitors a rounded sense of the council's collecting priorities across different periods, styles and artistic movements.
The 2025-2026 Refurbishment
The galleries closed for essential refurbishment from January 2025 as part of a wider approximately £300,000 project to prepare Arbroath Library for the relocation of Angus Archives from their previous home at the Hunter Library in Restenneth, near Forfar, reopening fully on 6 May 2026. The extended closure allowed for structural and environmental improvements to the first-floor gallery spaces alongside the wider library refurbishment, ensuring the paintings and collection are displayed in updated, better-controlled conditions.
This substantial investment reflects Angus Council's continued commitment to the library and gallery as a combined civic cultural hub, rather than allowing either function to decline through lack of investment or gradual closure.
Collections
Arbroath Art Gallery's collection is drawn from the wider Angus Council art collection, displayed across the Corsar and Brothock Galleries on the first floor of Arbroath Library. Its most significant holdings are two permanently displayed paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Adoration of the Magi and Saint John Preaching in the Wilderness, alongside work by artists including William Lamb and David Waterson and a changing programme of touring and locally-generated exhibitions.
Following a major 2025-2026 refurbishment that also brought Angus Archives into the same building, the gallery operates as a genuinely free civic amenity, distinct from but complementary to nearby Arbroath Museum and Arbroath Abbey.
The Bruegel the Younger Paintings
Permanent display of The Adoration of the Magi and Saint John Preaching in the Wilderness, two Old Master paintings from the Angus Council collection.
The Angus Council Art Collection
Wider civic art collection including work by William Lamb, David Waterson and other artists significant to Angus and Scottish art history.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.