While the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia relies heavily on donations to acquire art, it does not accept all offers. The Gallery's curatorial staff assess and debate the value of each work both on its own and in conjunction with the current collection.

• Does it help place an artistic development in context within our collection?
• Does it allow for useful contrast or comparison with other works?
• Does the subject or artist have distinct bearing on Nova Scotian, Atlantic Canadian, or Canadian artistic heritage?
• Does it allow the Gallery to better tell the story of Canadian art from an Atlantic Canadian perspective?  

The following is a selection of recent acquisitions with some excerpts of notes from our curatorial staff regarding these pieces.  For a full listing of works in the AGNS collection, explore Artefacts Canada.