York Art Gallery is now welcoming visitors to view its impressive collections and loans. Photo: Tim Smith. Courtesy York Museums Trust.

York Art Gallery re-opened its doors on 19 March 2005 after a £445,000 refurbishment project.

The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded York Museums Trust £272,700 for work to the main ground floor gallery and the creation of a learning room, The Studio. The City of York Council also donated £85,000 towards the project.

“I am delighted and very proud,” said Caroline Worthington, Curator of Art at York Museum Trust. “The Reflections room has seen the biggest transformation — it looks very effective.”

“We have redisplayed from top to bottom and have changed it so it is presented thematically,” she explained. “It is something different and new — we can introduce people to something fresh and contemporary.”

The gallery has already proved popular with a range of people. “We have had visitors from schools, art history students from York University, and locals,” said Caroline. “We want them to be proud of their gallery.”

The plastic lemon is always more interesting than the Dutch master... Photo: Tim Smith. Courtesy York Museums Trust.

On Saturday March 19, the opening day, the gallery drew 1,400 visitors and 800 people visited on the following Monday. “It is beyond what we expected and people are really taking the time to look around,” Caroline added.

So what is attracting the gallery goers? Each room follows a different theme, taking in morality, devotion, people, stories, places and reflections.

The Morality gallery centres on 17th century Dutch work. The images in the paintings have a deeper moral meaning reflecting on mortality.

The most striking image in this collection is called Flock, by Susie MacMurray. It features a wall with an archway, which from afar seems to be a hedge. On closer inspection it is made up of thousands of black hand-dyed turkey feathers layered in multiples.

It makes for a striking effect; the hints of deep green, black and brown in the soft feathers catch the light and echo the way 17th century artists worked with close attention to detail.

Margaretha de Geer by Rembrandt, on show in the Reflections gallery. Courtesy The National Gallery.

Works in the Devotion gallery depict religious concepts. The highlight for me was Triptych, a 16th century painting in three parts on a fold-up wooden stand, which was used for private worship. The main painting is Christ being shown to people before the Crucifixion, while the scenes on the wings are from the Old Testament.

There is also a book of hours from the 15th century. This is an illustrated manuscript small enough to fit in the palm of your hand containing prayers for the hours of the day.

Scenes from the Bible are illustrated with calligraphy accompanied by beautiful vivid blue and intricate gold designs. It was an expensive item, treasured by its owners and passed down through families.

Fashions of the 17th century are the main focus of the People gallery, where traditional portraiture is combined with historic costume, heavy gilt frames and photographic studio techniques.

Portraits of the Elizabethan age were vehicles for displaying power. Gemstone jewellery was one indicator of wealth, European connections and status, and their use in dress increased in Elizabethan times.

Flood Waters by Claude Monet, on show in Reflections. Courtesy The National Gallery.

Take, for example, Edward Bower’s portrait of Lady Elizabeth Drake, which is displayed in sharp contrast to Terpsichore by Maud Sulter (1989).

The latter shows a contemporary black woman in classic Elizabethan costume. The startling white of her dress and wig stands against a stark black background, representing the relationship between women who were either slaves or mistresses.

The Stories collection depicts a narrative in 19th century paintings — every picture tells a story. The images promote respectability, hard work and family life. One is called Spelling out the List, which shows a Chelsea pensioner and granddaughter reading the names of dead and wounded men in one of the colonial battles during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Landscapes take centre place in the Places gallery, particularly how they have changed and the way painters represent them. Pictures from 19th century Romantic artists show man in harmony with nature. Wilson Steer shows nature’s dazzling mix of light and colour, which is contrasted with the hustle and bustle of Blanche’s Piccadilly Circus.

Old and new are juxtaposed as technology is used to manipulate the landscape in the form of digital paintings, which suggests the landscape is itself man made in Decoy by Jane Prophet.

From Through the Needle's Eye - 250 years of quiltmaking. Photo: Tim Smith. Courtesy York Museums Trust.

Reflections is the highlight of York Art Gallery, displaying British and European art. The paintings are paired with those on loan from the National Gallery. The works of different artists are shown adjacent to one another, to allow new comparisons and connections.

The pairings have been made along similar themes but the emotional response to each is very different. The first, by Lord Leighton, is Electra (1869), a heroine of Greek tragedy whose father Agamemnon was murdered by her mother. In the painting she is shown in despair.

Alongside is Albert Moore’s version of A Venus, which is based on the famous Greek sculpture of Venus de Milo in The Louvre. Both show the revival of interest in a classical idea.

All these fascinating new displays are topped off with the benefit of free admission, so if it sounds like too much to take in in one go, visitors can come back another day to enjoy and reflect on another gallery.

Safira Ali is the 24 Hour Museum Renaissance Student Writer in the Yorkshire region. Renaissance is the groundbreaking initiative to transform England's regional museums, led by MLA, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.