Don’t miss these art exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery
With a bold diverse collection and rotating exhibitions, the Gallery offers a fresh and inspiring experience every time you visit. Established in 1931 on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, the Vancouver Art Gallery is widely regarded as one of North America’s most innovative visual arts institutions.
With a strong commitment to both historical and contemporary art, the Gallery presents stunning exhibitions, public programs, and leading-edge scholarship that reflect local and global perspectives. Focus is given to the work of Indigenous artists and voices from the Asia Pacific region through the Centre for Global Asias (formerly the Institute of Asian Art).
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Current Exhibitions
Otani Workshop: Monsters in My Head (till January 4, 2026)
This exciting exhibition marks the first solo exhibition in North America by Japanese artist Otani Workshop. On the first floor, experience a whimsical fusion of ceramic creatures and a dreamlike forest drawn from the imagination.
Written in Clay: From the John David Lawrence Collection (till January 4, 2026)
Written in Clay is a cherished collection from John David Lawrence that explores the history of handmade ceramics from across British Columbia over decades. Featuring 200 pieces, it examines the materials and processes from several creative artists including Thomas Takamitsu Kakinuma and Walter Dexter.
Postcards from the Heart (till October 5, 2025)
This collection from Brigitte and Henning Freybe honours the Freybes’ contributions as longtime supporters of the Vancouver Art Gallery. With more than 30 distinctive works including paintings, sculptures, and photographs, they demonstrate the remarkable character and depth of their collection.
Lucy Raven: Murderers Bar (till September 28, 2025)
At its centre is Raven’s newest moving image installation, which traces the historic removal of a dam along Northern California’s Klamath River. Drawing on a variety of themes such as environmental restoration, Indigenous sovereignty, and the shifting narratives of the American West.
Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape (till January 4, 2026)
On the fourth floor, you will experience what feels like a dense, impenetrable forest made up of Emily Carr’s forest paintings of BC. The exhibition explores Emily Carr’s reflections on nature through the spatial metaphor of proximity and distance.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama (October 3, 2025 till February 22, 2026)
This intriguing exhibition of Tamio Wakayama’s photography reflects the artist’s extraordinary activism and life’s work documenting the Redress movement for Japanese Canadians and his deep ties to Vancouver. It will be accompanied by a publication that includes his unpublished memoir, Soul on Rice.
Jim Lambie: Zobop (Colour-Chrome) (October 15, 2025–October 12, 2026)
Jim Lambie’s vibrant vinyl tape installations will contour the shape of the Gallery’s iconic shape of a staircase, wrapping its form in optical rhythm and vivid saturation. Inspired by pop culture and music, this upcoming exhibition promises to be visually striking and playful.
We who have known tides: Indigenous Art from the Collection (November 7, 2025–April 12, 2026)
Opening this Fall, We who have known tides is a poetic exhibition that explores how the ocean shapes Indigenous artists’ work and connections to the land and water for thousands of years. Bringing together nearly 40 works from the Gallery’s permanent collection, the exhibition illuminates the ocean not only as a source of inspiration, but as a lens through which to understand the ever-changing nature of the world around us.
Nan Goldin: Stendhal Syndrome (November 7, 2025–April 12, 2026)
This November, the Gallery is releasing Goldin’s photography through the moving-image format. Inviting viewers to not only see the images as visual narratives, but powerful encounters. This will be the first prominent showcasing of her work here in Vancouver.
That Green Ideal: Emily Carr and the Idea of Nature (February 6–November 8, 2026)
In 2026, the largest solo exhibition of British Columbia artist Emily Carr in over twenty years will be displayed at the Gallery. Spotlighting more of her iconic paintings — as she wrote in her journal “that green ideal” — of her encounters with the region’s dense rainforests.
The Gallery is open from 10 AM – 5 PM, with extended hours until 8 PM on Fridays, and is closed on Tuesdays. Sign up here to receive the latest on exhibitions, events, special offers, and more from the Gallery’s newsletter.
