Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts Reviews

There is a different experience in the museum which is inviting. Magdalena's range of ceramic works are on display looking at some of the everything's we are use to. Her glass exhibition is always in motion (cant really describe it with words). It is an experience.

one tubular gallery man, huge building with some funky art. well deserved 5 stars from the chunk.

A startlingly modern Norman Foster building from 1978! The main exhibition space is free and displays art and artefacts, paintings and sculptures, weapons and tools from all times and places, in an intentionally and pleasingly disordered way, with no preferred route for visitors. It's uncluttered and enjoyable to wander through, and the minimal accompanying text encourages you to form your own impressions of the objects.



Hard to find at the end of the UEA campus, but well worth seeking out.

Remarkable collection. Wonderful art in a Norman Foster building. More Francis Bacon paintings than you can imagine.

Iconic and beautiful building set in beautiful surroundings at a great university

A surprisingly overlooked gem, this is possibly my favourite place to chill, reflect on life and revisit a world class collection of art and craft in a manageable space. The building, now 40 years old looks as contemporary as anything built today and it works brilliantly. Not to everyone's taste which is perfect for those who treasure it.

Fantastic arts center, cafe and sculpture park based in the grounds of the university of East Anglia. Free entry to the permanent exhibition and the sculpture park. (And free parking). The exhibition is based upon the Sainsbury's family collection and is both fascinating and varied. Great to have a coffee and bite to eat in the stunning on site cafe. The Norman Foster building itself is worth a visit on its own !

Very eclectic exhibits with pottery dating from 2000BC to paintings by Lucien Freude. The cafe is reasonably priced and has a range of healthy foods.

an amazing place, and you never believe in Avenger 4 the Base is here!

Lovely exhibition of Art Deco at the sea on at the moment.

Don't bother. You won't be able to park. Utterly ridiculous waste of space.

Always a nice place to be when you're visiting the university

Nice art however typical cold building and staff are not at all helpful

Fantastic! Free parking, and AMAZING "primitive" art. Friendly, helpful staff (unlike an actual Sainsbury's), great coffee (ditto) and set in a beautiful park beside UEA. The most recommendable thing I've done in a long while.

If you are interested in art it is well worth visiting. Free to enter, except for exhibitions. Cafe reasonably priced and good food and coffee. The range of art covers a huge range in both time and style with some very significant pieces, all well displayed in an architecturally interesting building . If you want to see specific pieces, check that they are on display. Parking is limited.

Went here for lunch whilst at UEA but saw they had an exhibition of Degas figurines.

It was good but not amazing. I like the kofra coffee shop.

A place of interest and learning set in nice surrounding. With refreshments. Gby

Lovely art centre to visit in Norwich, there is also a dinning and a coffee

Fantastic art gallery in a lovely location. Has a good permanent collection and has some great visiting exhibitions too. Good art space

Beautiful gallery in the campus of the university. Good choice of food and large area to sit with a coffee, salad or warm meal.
The dedicated car park is far too small though, and we had to go round 3 times until someone left.
Since this is the only authorised parking area, it should really be much bigger.
The permanent exhibition is very interesting and there are always temporary ones of great value too.

Nice museum with good display for the objects. Friendly staff.

First time here ,thoroughly enjoyed the visual arts display and excellent lunch in the restaurant

The SCVA is well worth a visit if there's a particular exhibition there that you want to see (and are prepared to pay for) but the free part isn't worth going out of your way for. The 'Art Deco by the Sea' exhibition was interesting but it seemed as if a curator had simply put a lot of Deco exhibits together and then struggled to find a theme for. Good coffee and cake!

Would definitely go back to the Brian Clarke exhibition. The stained glass was phenomenal and the panels have been strategically placed so that the sunlight shines through them. It is a paid exhibition but you can get discounted tickets for students. If you don't want to pay, the rest of the centre is free to look around which currently holds some panels you can look at without going into the paid exhibition. Here, they have works by Edmund de Waal and Francis Bacon etc so it's definitely worth a look if you're interested in more unusual art. Just remember that it's not open on Mondays!

I like taking some time out from a busy week to wander through the Sainsbury's centre . There is lots to see and the paid for exhibitions are great. Always finish with a decent coffee. Shame the cakes are not up to standard.

One of my favorite places in Norwich. A large collection of Francis Bacon art. Occasional exhibits, sizable gift shop, and has a cafe. All around great place.

Not good for me not wheelchair accessible could not see the whole thing. Exhibits are to high to see properly.

Fantastic art collection very well displayed in a large building so felt very covid safe. Contains a mix of ancient and recent art (paintings/sculptures/pottery/other artifacts) and i enjoyed it all. Free to get in and free parking in front of building. One of the best art collections I have ever seen, excellent 2 hrs spend there.

Great space, interesting standing collection and good visiting exhibits. Very nice cafe but parking is a bit obscure.

Beautiful artwork and the actually building is art. Fantastic architecture! If you have time to visit the cafe here, it is well worth it!

Only visited the Cafe but what a great little cafe it is. Very spacious with a huge window with tables arrayed all along it feeling like you are seated outdoors.
Good selection of Teas Coffees and Cakes and Hot food also.
If you go to the Sainsbury Centre be sure to drop in on the Cafe.

I work there some time art hit and miss depending on what you like.

A really beautiful building that houses some fantastic exhibits. Well worth a visit.

Wonderful exhibitions good permanent collection, good restaurant. Cute and cosy it is not.

Loving Kofra cafe being there. Always like the Sainsbury Centre. Great art and always something new or interesting to see.

Interesting collections to look at. Good cafe. We'll worth a look if you are in Norwich or at UEA for any reason

A must see when you come to Norwich. All the items here are astonish to me.

16/08/2016

Great setting with interesting exhibitions and beautiful permanent works.

Very good layout and the cafe serves very good food

Absolutely amazing building, filled with the most amazing art/artifacts. Lovely cafe too.

Good centre. Very bad parking and no ev charging stations.

Stunning gallery in a brilliant building. Cafe was brilliant, great quality. Gallery staff were impolite.

Lovely place for lunch, a walk and many artefacts and exhibits you can see for free as well as the special exhibitions. The outdoor sculpture park is steadily expanding and includes Antony Gormley figures in the top of buildings

Always good exhibitions here. Restaurant is nice but a little pricey; however the location, the food quality makes it a nice place to go for a treat.

We visit restaurant at Sainsbury Center yesterday for lunch and had a very disgracefully embarrassing lunch. His fish was like rubber, terrible and overcooked, broccoli with no taste, my vegan sandwich was completely uneventful, no point to even eat that. I don't understand how this can get so badly wrong. Will be interesting to hear what you have to say about this situation.

Went to see the Elisabeth Drink exhibition - really wonderfully curated show. A lovely visit only marred by the tactics of an overzealous 'guard' who aggressively told a fellow visitor not to sit on what looked like a perfectly innocuous seat. Training in customer services required!

Large, almost warehouse like gallery, in which the artworks are simply laid out. However, the information displayed on each artwork is very basic.

Beautiful gallery in fan Richard Rogers building in open setting

A little visited site but very quiet. If you have time and interest in art you will not regret taking a look.

Nice place to hang out, had some time in museum which is great and sat at the cafeteria with a cup of coffee, has nice visuals from the cafe, would like to come again

Excellent art displays. From modern day to ancient history. A must see. Free too.

I do like the Sainsbury centre. They do have very good works here and it's nice to see it's in the Norfolk area.Car parking is sometimes an issue.

Outstanding gallery. Ancient and modern art. Good cafeteria.

Great lunches in a lovely setting. Good coffee too. Best visited on a bright day when the sun is shining.

SCVA is a great university art museum with some excellent pieces in its collection from many world renowned artists. The main collection is encyclopaedic and curiously displayed , however those looking for more of a traditional "Fine Art Gallery" experience may be disappointed by its more anthropological approach. There are many excellently curated exhibitions offered throughout the year that bring in objects and collections from other world-renowned collections, so take a look on the site to see what piques your interest and plan a visit.

The centre is set near the lake and sculptures all around..the cafe was excellent with social distance..the retro seaside exhibition was good but a bit sparse...for the money..but highly recommended visit.

Some amazing free art and regular exhibitions which usually cost to see. Not open on Mondays. Great building too.

Really lovely exhibition, worth it for a short while, I'm not much of an art critic but I enjoyed it

Under these very strict n difficult times it seems to run very smoothly.

Really interesting collections, lovely food from the cafe with a nice view

Very good collection of sculpture and other objects, mostly from Latin America and SE Asia. I especially liked the statuettes from the Cook Islands. They also hold substantial temporary exhibitions -- I went for the Magnum photos show, which was solid, but the permanent collection trumped it.

I think it's less than three miles from the city centre station but that takes about 45 mins by bus. Not a bad place to spring for a taxi, if you have one day to cover Norwich.