The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos is a major art gallery in Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, the largest city of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. It is a permanent exhibition of the National Gallery of Art, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation. The gallery is located within the National Arts Theatre

National Arts Theatre

The National Arts Theatre is the primary centre for the performing arts in Nigeria. The monument is located in Iganmu, Lagos State. Construction was completed in 1976 in preparation for the Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977.-Design:...

, at Entrance B.

Location

The National Gallery of Modern Art is located on two floors below the huge auditorium of the National Theater.
The upper level features a showcase of contemporary art, including colorful abstract canvases by Bruce Onobrakpeya

Bruce Onobrakpeya

Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...

 and bronze busts by Ben Osawe.
There is also a bookshop and library.

Exhibits

The Portrait Gallery section includes both modern and earlier portraits of prominent, including all Heads of State.
It includes portraits of artists such as Aina Onabolu

Aina Onabolu

Aina Onabolu was a pioneering Nigerian modern arts teacher and painter who was an important figure in the introduction of arts into the curriculum of secondary schools in the country...

, Chief Hubert Ogunde

Hubert Ogunde

Oloye Hubert Adedeji Ogunde was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the Ogunde Concert Party in , the first professional theatrical company in Nigeria.Ogunde starred in Mister Johnson, the 1990 motion picture which also featured Pierce Brosnan...

, Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...

, Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...

 and Professor Ben Enwonwu

Ben Enwonwu

Benedict Chuka Enwonwu , better known as Ben Enwonwu was an Igbo Nigerian painter and sculptor.-Early Life and Studies:Ben Enwonwu was born a twin on July 14, 1921 into the noble family of Umueze-Aroli in Onitsha, Nigeria. His father, Omenka Odigwe Emeka Enwonwu was a technician who worked with...

.
The section holding the works of the masters and other Nigerian artists includes work by Akinola Lasekan, Erhabor Emokpae, Professor Solomon Wangboje, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Haig David West and Gani Odutokun.

The modern sculpture section presents recent Nigerian sculpture, showing continuity with earlier forms such as the Nok culture but now no longer ritual and mystical in character.
Other sections are devoted to ceramics, artwork from friendly nations, a comparison of media and styles, glass painting and textiles.
Modern textile art in Nigeria draws on rich traditions from the Yoruba

Yoruba people

The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

, Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

, Igbo

Igbo people

Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

and other peoples of Nigeria. Even modern textile art may draw heavily on folklore and use traditional symbols, colors and patterns.