Its programme includes a number of exhibitions each year, with solo shows providing international artists with access to University research and collections, whilst conceptual group shows foreground key political and social issues.

[1] The University of Edinburgh's historic Old College was designed by Robert Adam and completed by William Henry Playfair.

An arts centre with an exhibition hall was opened in the Quad in 1970, following a £20,000 renovation paid for by the Gulbenkian Foundation.

[2] The gallery was opened in 1975 under the guidance of Prof Giles Henry Robertson and takes its name from his predecessor, Prof David Talbot Rice, the Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh from 1934 to 1972.

In 2019, the Gallery was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant for the first time.