4 Best Sights in Canada

This already exceptional gallery continues to grow—following on from its 5,000 square-foot expansion in 2017, it is set to open another new building, the Harrison McCain Pavilion, in 2022. The Beaverbrook's international collection is a remarkably broad and important one that one might not expect to find in a relatively small provincial city. The foundation on which this has been built is the lasting gift of the late Lord Beaverbrook, born and raised in New Brunswick before building his U.K. media empire. It contains a significant collection of Canadian, American, British, and other European masterworks that rivals many major Canadian galleries. Salvador Dalí's gigantic painting Santiago el Grande has always been the star, but a rotation of avant-garde Canadian paintings now shares pride of place. The current McCain "gallery-within-a-gallery" is devoted to the finest Atlantic Canadian artists. Larger spaces employ the artful use of dividers to create an intimate exerience, and in the 2017 extension, the art is enhanced by a stunning view of the river. Various special events and an artist-in-residence program add to the enjoyment. There's a great café with a terrace on the lower level, and a sculpture garden outside links to the riverside path.

Victorian wunderkind Anna Leonowens is famous for the time she spent as a royal governess in Thailand (then Siam), which inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I, but she also spent two decades in Halifax, where she founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. It later returned the favor by opening the Anna Leonowens Gallery, with three exhibition spaces that focus on contemporary studio and media art, and serve as a showcase for the college faculty and students. The gallery mounts about 100 exhibitions a year and also has offshoots at the Port Loggia on the waterfront and in the Granville mall.

In a distinctive historic house, the oldest private gallery in New Brunswick has original works by more than 100 Atlantic Canadian artists, including painters, printmakers, ceramicists, sculptors, jewelers, and photographers.

Between Pier 21 and the Seaport Farmers' Market, the exhibit space of the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, home of the Mary E. Black Gallery, presents shows of pottery, jewelry, textiles, metalwork, and other innovative, high-end crafts. The center also holds classes, including one- and two-day workshops, from fall through spring.