Brief History of the Gallery
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 2017 celebrated 60 years. The construction of the National Gallery was initially planned in the 1930s, but the outbreak of the Second World War impeded the colonial government's involvement in its progress. In 1954, an architectural competition was launched for the design of the building and the winning design which was put into construction in 1955 was by Montgomerie and Oldfield. The National Gallery was then officially opened to the public on 16th July 1957, by Her Majesty, The Queen Mother.
The first exhibition was entitled From Rembrandt to Picasso and was fully representative of works by European artists within that expanse of time, and included a selection of Italian Renaissance artists. The minutes of the Board meeting dated 17th April 1957 describe the exhibition as including works by artists: Rembrandt, Rubens, Cranach, Mantegna, Bellini, El Greco, Poussin, van Dyck, Veronese, Hals, Caravaggio, Steen, Ruisdael, Mestu, Terborch, J. Brueghel, Ribera, Turner, Constable, Romney, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Jordeans, Fyt, Le Nain, most of the Impressionists and the moderns including Corot, Courbet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Bonnard, Sutherland and Moore. The opening was broadcast by the BBC and a total of 181 press reports on the gallery appeared in local and international publications during its first year. Some 30,000 visitors came to the gallery to see the Inaugural Exhibition which was on show for 6 weeks.
