Galería de Arte de Ontario : Admisión General

Rude staff. Will never return.

If you love art and architecture, you must visit this museum! We were fortunate to see the exhibition of Paul McCartney and the room of Yayoi Kusama, which were very interesting exhibitions! We also made beautiful discoveries with Ranbir Sidhu, David Blackwood, and several paintings from the Group of Seven. A visit that was worth the detour! Not to mention the architecture of the museum, which is truly spectacular!

Wow. I've been to art museums around the world. This one is exceptional. The building is amazing and the collections are incredible. One of my favorite art gallery experiences ever. If you appreciate art, do not visit Toronto without spending an hour or two here.

The museum was interesting I would like to spend more time in it Maybe next trip. Walking distance from my hotel.

After we found parking in the garage across the street, we visited for the first time brought in by the traveling exhibition and stayed for hours for the permanent displays, all organized beautifully. Staff were knowledgeable and helpful even escorting us to certain locations when we couldn't find a piece we were looking for. Fun tip: take the stairs when you can as they themselves are a piece of art and the views to the cityscapes are stunning. While we didnt make it to the bidtro, the well-stocked gift shop is a fine way to wrap up the visit.

I’ve been coming to the AGO for decades, I’m an Admirer level member, and I always thought of it as a world class institution but I just attended the Paul McCartney photo exhibit and I was shocked at how poorly curated it was. I’ve been looking forward to the exhibit for months and was excited to see what they did with it to capture the experience of Beatlemania. Imagine my shock when I found shoddy error after error. To name just a couple of examples, Ringo’s name was spelled “Ringo Star” on one of the large print photo caption headlines. In another room, there was a spectacular wall-sized photo purporting to depict the Beatles landing at JFK for their Ed Sullivan appearance in February 1964 — probably the showcase photo of the entire exhibit. But, although it was winter, nobody was wearing a coat. One of the things that stood out was three beauty queens in sashes on the tarmac to greet the band. Something clearly wasn’t right. Sure enough, in a different room, there was another airport photo (this one showing people in winter garb) with a caption about three beauty queens greeting the Beatles at Miami airport. The photos were obviously mistakenly switched. Amateur hour. On top of that, the multimedia elements were very poor and failed to capture the excitement of the 1964 tour and the American cultural revolution it heralded. One thing that was very well done was a series of photos and memorabilia depicting the Beatles’s first appearance in Toronto. The curator of this exhibit is listed as Jim Shedden. Paul McCartney is reputed to have had some role in the curation but there’s no way he could have signed off on the final product. If he did, it shows that both he and Shedden (a veteran curator and AGO employee) are getting a little long in the tooth and are not keeping pace with 21st century museum curation innovations. Very disappointing!

This special exhibit is not to be missed. It is real window into that period of time for the Beatles and the people surrounding them. The breath and depth of the photos are superb. Additionally, there is some great memorabilia on show as well. The curator has done a wonderful job presenting the photos and materials. This is definitely a special exhibit not to be missed.

Larger than expected, needs time depending on how serious an art lover one is. Nice collection of Canadian art and interesting displays of contemporary work.

The Art Gallery of Ontario are to be congratulated on creating a real art installation with their Gift Membership scheme - Kafka meets Sisyphus. It's a great gallery - I loved it - so I wanted to send my two cousins a Gift Membership each. That's where the trouble started. The staff are great - they really tried to help - but their Gift Membership system is a real stinker. Don't buy a Gift Membership for your friends - send them the money instead.

The Art Gallery had extensive exhibitions over 5 floors. We particularly enjoyed the David Blackwood and ship models exhibitions.