Fact Sheet
Founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens as the Art Museum of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with a physical facility of 486,000 square feet. Currently under construction, the AGO’s new facility will boast 583,000 square feet, and will re-open in 2008 with an innovative architectural design by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry.
Collection
The AGO currently has more than 68,000 works in its collection, spanning from 100 AD to the present. Highlights include:
- More than 40% of the collection vividly documents the development of Canada’s art heritage since pre-Confederation, including one of the largest and finest Inuit art collections in the world. The collection includes pivotal works by Cornelius Krieghoff, Lucius O’Brien, James Wilson Morrice, Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, David Milne, Emily Carr and Paul-Emile Borduas.
- Major holdings of the work of pre-eminent Canadian artists Paterson Ewen, Betty Goodwin, Greg Curnoe, David Blackwood, Kazuo Nakamura and American artist Robert Motherwell.
- The world’s largest public collection of works by internationally renowned British sculptor Henry Moore.
- Masterpieces of European art, including works by renowned artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and René Magritte.
- A collection of photographs representing the emergence of the medium in its artistic, cultural and social diversity. Works by 19th-century British, French, American and Canadian photographers, and 20th-century modernists, including one of the foremost collections of works by Josef Sudek.
- A contemporary collection illustrating the evolution of artistic movements in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including major works by Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Mary Kelly, Jannis Kounellis, Jenny Holzer, General Idea, Joanne Tod, Jeff Wall, Rebecca Belmore and Luciano Fabro.
Exhibitions
As one of Canada’s most distinguished art museums, the AGO organizes and hosts a wide spectrum of major exhibitions. Over the past decade, the AGO has presented:
- Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon, 2007
- Two Photographers. Two Visions Ansel Adams/Alfred Eisenstaedt, 2007
- ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths and Disasters 1962–1964, 2006
- The Shape of Colour: Excursions in Colour Field Art, 1950 – 2005, 2005
- Catherine the Great: Arts for the Empire - Masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum, Russia, 2005
- Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, 2005
- Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions, 2004
- Tom Thomson, 2003
- Voyage into Myth: French Painting from Gauguin to Matisse, from the Hermitage Museum, 2002
- Y E S YOKO ONO, 2002
- Treasures from the Hermitage Museum, Russia: Rubens and His Age, 2001
- Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff, 2001
- Matisse from the Baltimore Museum of Art, 2000
- Cindy Sherman Retrospective, 1999
- Krieghoff: Images of Canada 1999
- The Courtauld Collection, 1998
- The Art of Betty Goodwin 1998The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, 1998
- The OH!Canada Project, 1996
- Paterson Ewen: Earthly Weathers/Heavenly Skies, 1996
- From Cézanne to Matisse: Great French Paintings from The Barnes Foundation, 1994
Annual operating revenues
- $31.4 M in 2006/07
- 40.2% government funding (federal, provincial, municipal)
- 16.1% self-generated (admissions, retail, food & beverage)
- 35.8% private sector support (memberships, donations, sponsorships)
- 7.9% amortization of deferred capital contribution
Attendance
- Total attendance in 2006/07: 317,066
- 53% of visitors are from the GTA
- 22% of visitors are from Ontario, outside the GTA
- 12% of visitors are from the U.S.
- 8% of visitors are international
- 5% of visitors are from other provinces in Canada
Capital Expansions
- 1911 – Acquired The Grange building and property through a private bequest
- 1918 – Opened first paintings galleries, with a connecting link to The Grange (Darling and Pearson Architects)
- 1926 – Opened Walker Court, three flanking galleries and an entrance on Dundas Street (Darling and Pearson Architects)
- 1935 – Two additional galleries built (Darling, Pearson & Cleveland Architects)
- 1974 – Expansion by John C. Parkin, Parkin Partnership, Architects and Planners (Stage I: Zacks Pavilion, Henry Moore Sculpture Centre)
- 1977 – Expansion by John C. Parkin, Parkin Partnership, Architects and Planners (Stage II: Canadian Wing)
- 1993 – Expansion by Barton Myers/KPMB Architects (Stage III: Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Sculpture Atrium; Marvin Gelber Print and Drawing Centre)
- 2002 – AGO announces Transformation AGO project – Gehry International Architects
- 2005 – Construction commences on the Transformation AGO expansion project, designed by Gehry International Architects, Inc.
