The Victoria Art Gallery is located in the centre of Bath and is home to a range of contemporary and historic art. Explore the expansive collections that celebrate local art through the ages, as well as housing pieces from across Europe. The beautiful gallery is full of work to be discovered and admired and is a must-see when visiting Bath. 

 

The Victoria Art Gallery’s permanent collection is situated on the first floor and is free to access for everyone. The collection itself consists of a range of portraiture, sculptures, oil paintings and drawings that date back to the 15th century. The gallery celebrates a range of European art, a lot of which is local to Bath itself. 

 

Susan Hindman, visiting Bath from West Sussex, says, “it’s a friendly art gallery, that’s not too intimidating for people who are new to art.” 

 

When visiting the permanent collection, you are encouraged to walk around the gallery in an anti-clockwise direction in order to see the development of styles as time goes on. This allows you to see the art adapting with changing times and watch as it transforms through the ages. Starting with an oil painting of Henry VIII that dates back to the 16th century, all the way through to a piece by Sir Howard Hodgkin in the early years of this century, the styles and composition of the pieces changes dramatically over the centuries.

 

One of the most famous pieces in the gallery is a portrait of Captain William Wade, painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1769. The portrait stands nearly eight feet tall in the gallery and commemorates Sir William Wade, the Master of Ceremonies at Bath’s Assembly Rooms between 1769 and 1777. 

Packed full of art history, the gallery acknowledges centuries of magnificent pieces from a range of places, times and people. 

 

At the gallery you can also discover a range of pieces of Bath itself, like an architectural drawing of the Pump Room Hotel by John Wilcox in 1871. There is lots to discover about the city, so take a stroll through time and discover what Bath has to offer. 

 

Susan Hindman goes on to describe the gallery as, “an exciting opportunity to see different interpretations of the places we’d just visited in Bath.”

 

The gallery is also home to two lower galleries that display changing exhibitions of contemporary art. Some of the art exhibited in these galleries is for sale. Unlike the permanent collection, access to the lower galleries does require tickets. 

Don’t forget to visit the gallery gift shop after you tour the gallery to browse the range of postcards, books and ceramics that are available.