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Cities · North America · 49°17′N 123°07′W

Vancouver

Rain, mountains and the Northwest Coast: Haida carving, Emily Carr's forests, and the photographers who made the city a school of its own.

Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Best monthsMay–September
Art calendarCapture Photography Festival (April)
This guide4 essentials · 3 places off-piste
EssentialsOff-Piste in VancouverOne dayNearby

Essentials

Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Museum · Downtown

Vancouver Art Gallery

In the old provincial courthouse, remodelled by Arthur Erickson, with the largest collection of Emily Carr and the photographers of the Vancouver School.

Look for: Emily Carr's forest paintings.
Closed Tuesdays
Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Museum · Point Grey

Museum of Anthropology at UBC

Arthur Erickson's concrete and glass museum (1976), with a Great Hall of Northwest Coast poles facing the sea.

Look for: Bill Reid's The Raven and the First Men, under its skylight.
Bill Reid Gallery, Vancouver · CC BY 2.0
Museum · Downtown

Bill Reid Gallery

A small gallery of the Haida artist Bill Reid and of contemporary Northwest Coast art.

Look for: Reid's gold and silver jewellery.
The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Museum · North Vancouver

The Polygon Gallery

Photography and media art in a building by Patkau Architects (2017) at the SeaBus terminal, with the city across the water.

Look for: The view back to downtown from the upper floor.
Off the list

Off-Piste in Vancouver

Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.

Spinning Chandelier, Vancouver · CC BY 2.0
Public art · Under the Granville Bridge

Spinning Chandelier

Rodney Graham's giant crystal chandelier, hung under the bridge (2019), descends and spins for a few minutes a few times a day.

Be there at noon, 4 pm or 9 pm.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Garden · Chinatown

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

A Ming-style scholar's garden built in 1986 by craftsmen from Suzhou: rocks, pavilions, a jade-green pond.

The windows framing single plants.
Robson Square and the Law Courts, Vancouver · Public domain
Architecture · Downtown

Robson Square and the Law Courts

Arthur Erickson's civic centre: a glass-roofed courthouse and terraced gardens with waterfalls, landscaped by Cornelia Oberlander.

The great glass roof of the Law Courts.
Nearby

Audain Art Museum

British Columbia art, from Northwest Coast masks to Emily Carr, in Patkau Architects' building in the forest at Whistler, about two hours along the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

If you have one day

Vancouver Art Gallery at opening → the Bill Reid Gallery → Chinatown and the Sun Yat-Sen garden → the Museum of Anthropology → the SeaBus to the Polygon at sunset.

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