Ottawa Art Gallery gives the capital a more local and contemporary art voice than the grander national institutions. Its collection and exhibitions focus on Ottawa-Gatineau, Canadian, and Indigenous artists, with the Firestone Collection adding an important strand of 20th-century Canadian art.
The gallery is central, free to enter, and easy to combine with the ByWard Market or Rideau Centre area. Visit it when you want a sharper sense of the city’s own art scene rather than another federal monument.