Art Gallery of Ontario

The AGO holds around one hundred and twenty thousand works, with the strongest public collection of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson anywhere, plus a large Henry Moore holding the sculptor himself helped install in 1974, and a growing Indigenous and Canadian collection. Frank Gehry, who grew up a few streets away and said his grandmother took him here, designed the 2008 transformation: a curved Douglas fir and glass gallery running the length of the Dundas Street front, and a spiralling wooden staircase that climbs through the roof. Anyone under twenty-five gets in free, which is unusual for a museum of this size.

What you actually see

• The Group of Seven - the largest public holding of the Canadian landscape painters.
• The Gehry facade - a curved Douglas fir and glass gallery along Dundas.
• The spiral staircase - a wooden stair climbing through the roof.
• The Henry Moore centre - a large sculpture collection installed with the artist.

When to go

Year-round; the gallery closes Mondays and stays open late on Wednesdays. Major touring exhibitions carry separate timed tickets and sell out. Free entry for visitors under twenty-five.

Honest expectations

Special exhibitions cost extra on top of general admission. The collection is large and a single visit covers a fraction. Wednesday evenings and weekends are busy.

Nearby

Casa Loma lies north; the Distillery District is southeast.