The National Art Gallery is closed these days due to maintenance work.

The name of the Colombo Drawing Club was changed as Ceylon Society of Arts in 1887 at a meeting presided over by Sir Noel Walker. He was the first chairman of the society. The Colombo Drawing Club was initially started by a group of art lovers in 1880s. The members of this society exhibited their drawings and paintings at the monthly meetings. The Ceylon Society of Arts held its first annual exhibition on 07^th December 1892 under the aegis of Sir Arthur Havelock, the then Governor of Ceylon. As the society did not have a permanent art gallery to hold annual art exhibitions, they had to look for another alternatives and thus they proposed at a meeting held in 1911to have an art gallery of their own for this purpose.

This premises was a donation by one of the members cum artists Wasala Mudali Tudor Rajapaksha. Wasala Mudali A.C.G.S. Amarasekera was assigned to prepare the plan of the Art Gallery. As per the plan, the gallery should have 03 halls. Due to the World War I, construction was delayed. The first stage of the Art Gallery was initiated in 1919 and the construction work of the main hall was completed in 1932. It is the Amarasekera Hall at present. The Eastern and Western Halls were constructed in 1952 to hold the exhibitions of the first Colombo Plan conference funded by Sir Earnest Fernando, member of the Board of Trust and the donations from the general public.

The National Art Gallery was acquired by the Government in 1971 under an agreement between Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike due to the various hardships encountered by the Ceylon Society of Arts. Since then the National Arts Gallery has been functioning under the purview of the Department of Cultural Affairs on the advice of the Society of Arts.

Facilities for holding the exhibitions are available at present throughout the year for external parties. Therefore the Art gallery could be considered as a skills hub of Arts.  

Address

National Art Gallery 106, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07.

Contact Details