Located in the heart of Edinburgh close to Waverley train station, the City Art Centre’s aim is to champion historic and contemporary Scottish visual and applied arts.

Artworks from our Nationally Recognised collection of Scottish art are displayed on a rotating basis. Visitors can also enjoy our richly diverse programme of changing exhibitions, which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photography, as well as contemporary art and craft.

We currently have 3 exhibitions on for you to enjoy: Will Maclean: Points of Departure; National Treasure: The Scottish Modern Arts Association and Incoming: New Acquisitions at the City Art Centre'.

An escalator and lift provide easy access to six floors, and the Centre also houses a great shop on the ground floor. Admission is normally free, although charges apply for some temporary exhibitions. Mimi's Bakehouse is situated on the ground floor, open daily 9am-5pm (last sit ins at 4:30pm)  offering coffee, cake and an all day brunch menu. (View a sample menu below or hop over to mimisbakehouse.com)

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Explore

The City of Edinburgh’s art collection is one of the finest in Scotland, and includes works by the most important Scottish artists from the 17th century to the present day. It encompasses drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture as well as paintings, and numbers over 4,500 items. 

Prints of many of the pieces in our collection can be purchased on ArtUK; below are just a few examples of our most popular images.

It is a richly diverse collection, ranging from civic portraiture to contemporary abstraction. It continues to grow, using a generous bequest left to the City in the 1960s, with a focus on acquiring contemporary work as well as filling historic gaps.

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City Art Centre Access Guide

Download our comprehensive access guide to find out how you can get to and around the City Art Centre. 

City Art Centre

For all accessibility enquiries please contact the venue on: 

+ 44 (0) 131 529 3993​
museumsandgalleries@edinburgh.gov.uk

Inspiring, astonishing, just perfect. Thank you. Visitor from Switzerland, August 2017
Sample menu from Mimi's Bakehouse, Market Street, Edinburgh

City Art Centre is a 4 star Visitor Attraction

Exhibitions

Events

 
 
Iasgar Mor, oil on board, by Donald Smith (1926-2014). copyright; the artist's family

Islander: the Paintings of Donald Smith

Sat 29 May to Sun 26 Sep 2021 ‘Smith’s painting remained rooted…in the real and earthy, not to say the salty, life of Lewis and its fishermen and women’. ★★★★ Duncan Macmillan,...

Archived event

This is an archive page for a past event

Find out what's happening now and upcoming in our What's on section.

More info
Marine by Ian Hamilton Finlay

Marine: Ian Hamilton Finlay

Sat 22 May to Sun 3 Oct 2021 . ‘…the exquisite care with which this show has been arranged demonstrates immediately and with utter conviction the sheer beauty of much of the work...

Archived event

This is an archive page for a past event

Find out what's happening now and upcoming in our What's on section.

More info