About
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comprises two stunning neoclassical buildings set in beautiful parkland in Edinburgh's West End, housing Scotland's outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art from 1900 to the present day. The collection spans over a century of artistic innovation across two venues: Modern One (formerly Modern Art) in the former John Watson's School building focuses on early modernism through to the 1960s, while Modern Two (formerly the Dean Gallery) in the former Dean Orphan Hospital concentrates on Dada, Surrealism, and contemporary art, including the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Edinburgh-born sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi.
Together, the two buildings present approximately 6,000 works by major international artists alongside Scotland's finest modern and contemporary artists.
The collection includes masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Dalí, Giacometti, Bacon, Hockney, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Hirst, as well as outstanding works by Scottish artists including the Scottish Colourists, Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi, and contemporary practitioners. The galleries are surrounded by magnificent sculpture gardens featuring works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, and Nathan Coley, making the parkland setting integral to the visitor experience.
Charles Jencks's celebrated Landform sculpture garden at Modern One, created in 2002, is a work of landscape art in itself, featuring serpentine grass mounds, crescent-shaped ponds, and carefully orchestrated views.
The buildings themselves are architectural gems - symmetrical neoclassical structures designed by William Burn in the 1820s, adapted sensitively for gallery use while retaining their elegant proportions and classical details.
Modern One's galleries progress chronologically through the 20th century, from Cubism and Fauvism through Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism to contemporary installations. Modern Two houses the Paolozzi collection in a dramatic installation designed by the artist, alongside changing exhibitions of contemporary art and historical surveys.
Admission to the permanent collections is free, making this world-class collection accessible to all.
The combination of outstanding art, beautiful architecture, spectacular sculpture gardens, and peaceful parkland setting makes the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art a unique destination where art, architecture, and landscape unite to create an inspiring cultural experience. Located just fifteen minutes walk from the city center in the leafy Dean Village area, the galleries offer both internationally significant collections and a tranquil escape from Edinburgh's bustle.
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Annual Visitors (2019)
550,000
Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Weekday mornings (10:00-12:00) for quietest galleries. Spring and summer afternoons ideal for enjoying the sculpture gardens. Both buildings together require 3-4 hours minimum.
💡 Visitor Tips
- Plan to visit both Modern One and Modern Two buildings - they're just 5 minutes walk apart along the beautiful Water of Leith pathway. Combined visit requires 3-4 hours minimum. Free shuttle bus runs between buildings every 30 minutes.
- Start at Modern One to see the Landform sculpture and early 20th-century modernism, then walk through the sculpture gardens to Modern Two for Surrealism and the Paolozzi collection. This creates a logical chronological progression through modern art history.
- The sculpture gardens are spectacular in all seasons - spring blossoms, summer greenery, autumn colors, even winter snow transforms the landscape. Allow time to explore the outdoor sculptures before or after viewing indoor galleries. Gardens open dawn to dusk year-round.
- Free parking is available at both buildings - unusual for Edinburgh galleries and a significant advantage for drivers. The peaceful West End location means less traffic stress than city center venues. Bus route 13 from city center stops directly outside Modern One.
- The Modern One Café serves excellent lunches and afternoon tea with views across the Landform sculpture. On nice days, purchase food from the café and picnic on the lawns among the sculptures - one of Edinburgh's most pleasant outdoor dining experiences.
- Free guided tours run several times weekly (check information desk for current schedule), offering excellent introductions to the collections. Tours typically last 45-60 minutes and illuminate modern art movements and key works. No booking required.
- Photography is permitted throughout for personal use without flash. The Landform, outdoor sculptures, and Paolozzi Studio are particularly popular photographic subjects. The beautiful neoclassical buildings provide stunning architectural backdrops for sculpture photographs.
- Visit on weekday mornings for the quietest experience. Weekend afternoons can be busy with families enjoying the sculpture gardens. The peaceful West End setting provides a completely different atmosphere from the busier city center galleries - more relaxed and contemplative.
Highlights
Landform by Charles Jencks
This extraordinary landscape sculpture created in 2002 transforms the front lawn of Modern One into a dramatic work of land art. Designed by landscape architect and theorist Charles Jencks in collaboration with his wife Maggie Keswick, Landform features three serpentine grass-covered mounds rising and falling around crescent-shaped ponds, creating a dynamic sculptural landscape that changes with the seasons and viewing angles.
The undulating forms reference Scottish geological features, Chinese gardens, mathematical equations, and modernist aesthetics simultaneously.
Visitors can walk along paths that wind between the mounds, experiencing the sculpture from within while enjoying carefully orchestrated views of the gallery building, surrounding trees, and Edinburgh's skyline.
The ponds reflect sky and vegetation, adding ever-changing visual elements. Landform exemplifies contemporary environmental art's ability to unite sculpture, landscape design, and architecture into unified artistic statements.
The work has become an iconic feature of the gallery, photographed extensively and beloved by visitors who picnic on the grass slopes or children who play among the mounds. Jencks created Landform as a memorial to Maggie Keswick, making this monumental work also an intimate personal tribute.
Eduardo Paolozzi Collection
Modern Two houses the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Eduardo Paolozzi, the Edinburgh-born artist who became one of the 20th century's most influential sculptors and printmakers. Paolozzi's Studio, a recreation of his London workspace installed after his death in 2005, fills an entire gallery with thousands of objects - plaster maquettes, found objects, toys, machine parts, magazines, and works in progress that reveal his creative process.
The collection includes Paolozzi's monumental sculptures cast in bronze, his groundbreaking collages that pioneered Pop Art in the 1950s, his innovative screenprints combining mechanical imagery with vibrant colors, his textiles, ceramics, and public art designs.
Born in Leith to Italian immigrant parents in 1924, Paolozzi drew inspiration from popular culture, science fiction, technology, and ancient mythology, creating works that challenged distinctions between high and low culture. His collage 'I was a Rich Man's Plaything' from 1947 is considered one of the first works of Pop Art, predating American Pop Art by over a decade.
The Paolozzi collection demonstrates the extraordinary range and inventiveness of this major 20th-century artist while celebrating Scotland's contributions to international modernism.
Sculpture Gardens
The parkland surrounding both Modern One and Modern Two buildings features one of Britain's finest outdoor sculpture collections, with major works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Nathan Coley, and many others integrated into the beautiful landscape. Henry Moore's monumental reclining figures, Barbara Hepworth's abstract bronzes, and Rachel Whiteread's concrete Holocaust Memorial create powerful presences among mature trees and rolling lawns.
Antony Gormley's '6 TIMES' places six life-size iron figures throughout the grounds, encouraging visitors to discover sculptures while exploring the landscape.
Nathan Coley's illuminated text work 'There Will Be No Miracles Here' challenges viewers from its prominent position. The sculptures change character with seasons, weather, and light - Moore's bronzes develop rich green patinas, snow transforms abstract forms into natural shapes, and autumn leaves frame works in gold and red.
The Water of Leith walkway runs through the grounds, adding natural beauty and connecting the two gallery buildings.
The sculpture gardens demonstrate modern and contemporary sculpture's dialogue with landscape and architecture, allowing monumental works space to be experienced from multiple angles and distances. Visitors can enjoy art while walking, picnicking, or simply relaxing in beautiful surroundings.
Surrealist Collection
The gallery holds an outstanding collection of Surrealist art, with major works by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Max Ernst, and other masters of this revolutionary artistic movement that sought to unlock the unconscious mind through dreamlike imagery and irrational juxtapositions.
Highlights include Dalí's hallucinatory landscapes, Magritte's mysterious paintings that challenge perception and reality, Miró's poetic abstractions combining organic forms with brilliant colors, and Ernst's pioneering collages and 'frottage' techniques.
The collection demonstrates Surrealism's international reach and its profound influence on subsequent art movements.
Scottish connections to Surrealism are explored through works by Scottish artists influenced by the movement and Edinburgh's role hosting the International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936. The Surrealist works are displayed in Modern Two alongside the Paolozzi collection and Dada materials, allowing visitors to trace connections between these radical early 20th-century movements that challenged artistic conventions and rational thought.
The collection provides essential context for understanding modern art's development and the continued influence of Surrealist ideas on contemporary artists who explore dreams, the unconscious, and irrational imagery.
Collections
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art holds Scotland's national collection of modern and contemporary art from 1900 to the present, comprising approximately 6,000 works across painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, and new media. The collection documents the major movements of 20th and 21st-century art including Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and contemporary practices.
International masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Dalí, Giacometti, Bacon, Freud, Hockney, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Hirst represent the major figures of modern and contemporary art.
The Eduardo Paolozzi collection is the world's most comprehensive, with over 3,000 works including sculpture, prints, drawings, textiles, and the recreated contents of his studio. Scottish modernism is extensively represented through the Scottish Colourists, Joan Eardley, and subsequent generations who brought international movements to Scotland while developing distinctive Scottish variants.
The sculpture collection includes monumental outdoor works displayed in the parkland setting and gallery-based sculptures spanning the 20th century.
Photography holdings include works from early modernist photographers through contemporary practitioners. The collection continues to grow through acquisitions and commissions ensuring it remains relevant to contemporary audiences and documents art's ongoing evolution.
Early Modernism and the Scottish Colourists
Works from the early 20th century including Fauvism, Expressionism, and Cubism, with outstanding representations of the Scottish Colourists who brought European modernism to Scotland through their vibrant use of color and expressive brushwork.
📍 Modern One, ground floor
Surrealism and Dada
Major Surrealist and Dada works by Dalí, Magritte, Ernst, Miró, and others, demonstrating these movements' revolutionary approaches to unlocking the unconscious and challenging rational thought through art.
📍 Modern Two, first floor
Eduardo Paolozzi: A Lifetime of Work
Comprehensive collection of works by Edinburgh-born sculptor and printmaker Eduardo Paolozzi, including the recreation of his studio filled with thousands of objects that inspired his innovative approach to sculpture and collage.
📍 Modern Two, ground floor
Post-War British Art
Outstanding collection of British art from 1945 to 1980s, featuring major works by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, and others who made Britain a center of artistic innovation in the post-war period.
📍 Modern One, first floor
Contemporary Art
Rotating displays of recently acquired contemporary works and temporary exhibitions featuring leading international and Scottish contemporary artists working in all media from painting to installation and new media.
📍 Both buildings, various galleries
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.
Nearby Museums (5 within 6 miles)
Regimental Museum of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Military History
Edinburgh — ~20 min walk (1.0 mi)