Did you know that the Art Gallery of Alberta's (formerly the Edmonton Museum of Art) first home was located in the city library?

The original location was right next door to the Hotel Macdonald. We called the library home from 1924-1925 before moving into the Hotel Macdonald. The original Edmonton Public Library remained standing until 1966 when it was demolished to make way for the AGT office tower.

There have been numerous milestones along the journey, including the opening of our current building in 2010. We sincerely thank each and every everyone for their support in helping us grow and create a space to inspire imaginations, engage generations and transform people's lives through art for the past 98 years!

August 24, 11am-5pm

August 23 is Treaty No. 6 Recognition Day. This day commemorates the signing of Treaty No. 6 between the Plains, Wood Cree, Nakota, Saulteaux and Dene people and the Crown at Fort Carlton on August 23, 1976. 

This year, Treaty No. 6 Recognition Day falls on a Tuesday, when the AGA is typically closed to the public. However, to celebrate Treaty 6 Recognition Day, we are offering free admission on Wednesday, August 24—when the Gallery is open—and invite the public to reflect on our truth and history as part of our commitment toward reconciliation. 

All our exhibitions, shopAGA and our restaurant May will be open. Learn more about our exhibitions here. 

Thank you for Capital Power’s generous support for making free admission possible. 

Do you have a spooky tale to share? Share your story with us and it could be featured in our upcoming exhibition, Conjured Images: Spirit Photography from the turn of the 20th Century! Take a peek, if you dare, at some of the early story submissions here.

This exhibition features early examples of photos that feature “extras” or ghostly apparitions that photographers and sitters claim were not physically present in the room when the photos were taken. Some believed these figures were the spirits of dead loved ones and claimed to recognize friends and family. Others blamed trickery or common phenomenon like a double exposure. Spirit photography was incredibly popular at the turn of the century because of changing technology and the rise of the spiritualist movement. The core of spiritualism is a belief that there is an afterlife that is much like this life and from which spirits can actively communicate. Many famous spiritualists like Queen Victoria, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mary Todd Lincoln made attempting to convene with the dead a fairly mainstream hobby.

This exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Lindsey Sharman. Presented by Capital Powered Art, an exhibition series sponsored by Capital Power.