National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
The national art museum of The Bahamas, in the 1860s Villa Doyle, showing the National Collection.
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas opened in 2003 in Villa Doyle, a colonial mansion on West Hill Street built from the 1860s for Sir William Doyle, the islands' first Chief Justice, and extended in the following decades. The house stood derelict for years before a long restoration adapted its rooms and verandas into galleries. It sits in the historic upper town of Nassau, opposite St Francis Xavier Cathedral, and remains the country's principal public museum of visual art.
The gallery holds the National Collection, which traces Bahamian art from the colonial period to the present and includes major holdings of the intuitive painter Amos Ferguson alongside work by Brent Malone, Max Taylor and Antonius Roberts. Changing exhibitions occupy the main floors, while the Project Space supports newer practices and Fiona's Theatre hosts talks, screenings and performances. Outside, the Art Park combines sculpture with the remains of earlier structures on the site, and an education programme serves schools, teenagers and families.
Highlights
- Villa Doyle, a mansion begun in the 1860s and restored as the national gallery
- The National Collection of Bahamian art from the colonial era to the present
- Dedicated gallery of works by the intuitive painter Amos Ferguson
- Art Park with outdoor sculpture and Fiona's Theatre for talks and screenings
