Close

Not in Melbourne?


National Gallery of Australia

places|act|parkes|national%20gallery%20of%20australia
The NGA holds Australia’s most significant cultural collections spanning Australian, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander, Asian and International art.

Editorial


Almost every past Prime Minister of Australia has been committed to the idea of a national gallery, yet the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) did not open until 1982, 14 years after Harold Holt's government announced an architectural competition to design a home for the National Collection.

Initially proposed for Capital Hill, where Parliament House now sits, the NGA's lakeside location was eventually favoured and the building is sited on one apex of a triangle, with Parliament House and the National Library of Australia on the other two.

The NGA now holds one of Australia's most significant cultural collections. In total over 100,000 works are held, divided into four major groups: Australian art, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art, Asian art and International art.

The aim of the NGA is to document and treasure the work of Australian artists and that of its close neighbours, while collecting significant contemporary works from around the world. It does not attempt to collect a significant representation of international historical art works, however major international touring exhibitions are common, and in 2010 it hosted Australia's most-visited ever exhibition, Masterpieces from Paris, which brought almost half a million people into the gallery.

There are so many highlights it is difficult to distil just a few, however Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles (so controversially purchased by Gough Whitlam's government) and Sidney Nolan's iconic Ned Kelly series are both required viewing for anyone with an interest in Australia's cultural development.

Robert Stevenson, Citysearch

Event Listing

Music at the Gallery

National Gallery of Australia Parkes Place, Parkes 2011-07-03

Start:03-Jul-2011

End:31-Jul-2011

2011-07-31

Out of the West

National Gallery of Australia Parkes Place, Parkes 2011-07-08

Start:08-Jul-2011

End:01-Apr-2012

2012-04-01

Fred Williams Retrospective

National Gallery of Australia Parkes Place, Parkes 2011-08-12

Start:12-Aug-2011

End:06-Nov-2011

2011-11-06

Renaissance at the NGA

National Gallery of Australia Parkes Place, Parkes 2011-12-09

Start:09-Dec-2011

End:09-Apr-2012

2012-04-09

Do something with this page

1 User review (add yours)

User Feedback

London places to visit
January 03, 2011


London's National Gallery is a vast space, filled to the rafters with Western European paintings from the 13th to the 19th centuries. National gallery of Australia is the gallery of arts and museum. In this gallery there is more than 12000 work of art is placed. http://www.nomadictraveler.net/holiday-in-manchester.html

Flag this comment as inappropriate

Your Feedback

*Your rating

* required

*Your review (1000 characters max)




 

What's Nearby