Paddle Steamers at Night, Eric Ravilious, C.1939. ©Harrogate Museums and Arts, Harrogate Borough Council.

Welcome to the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate

The Mercer Art Gallery is one of Yorkshire's most exciting galleries. You never know quite what to expect when you come through the door... great Victorian paintings from the Harrogate collection by famous names such as Atkinson Grimshaw and William Powell Frith... the joy and diversity of the Harrogate Open exhibition, when everybody joins in and submits paintings, sculpture, photographs, prints, drawings, textiles and more...or challenging new work presented to Harrogate by the Contemporary Art Society.

The Harbour, Christopher Wood, 1926. ©Harrogate Museums and Arts, Harrogate Borough Council. Gift from the Contemporary Art Society

The Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery

The great thing is that the Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery play a part in all of the above: they help to buy major works for the collection, they sponsor the Harrogate Open and they pay our subscription so that we can benefit from gifts from the Contemporary Art Society.

Visitors love the Mercer Art Gallery for all sorts of reasons....it shows all kinds of art; it can be an oasis of calm, a place for reflection and contemplation, or an arena for excitement, such as the night when Northern Ballet performed here...

View of Knaresborough, John William Buxton Knight, 1890. ©Harrogate Museums and Arts, Harrogate Borough Council

Why People Love Us

It gives us immense pleasure to witness people's enjoyment in the gallery. Our visitors enjoy the short, sharp text we write for the picture labels; they like to sit down and browse through the books we have published about our collections, they like to buy art and they love our gallery shop with specially commissioned work from North Yorkshire artists.