National Portrait Gallery

A building worth seeing in its own right with a excellent, well managed collection with a few blockbuster visiting exhibitions a year. Good parking(free on weekends) and wifi. Sadly the food in the cafe does not equal the surrounding. As usual for Canberra, friendly knowledgeable staff

Enjoy breakfast or lunch on the deck overlooking the estate. Service is good, just one or two waiters that need to learn how to serve and clear tables. The gallery contains interesting historical portraits as well as some brand new ones. I can help but feeling that most of those portraits are there because the corporations don't want to hang them in their halls

Amazing range of portraiture from the 17th centuries till present day. Interesting way to learn of the history and culture of Australia from the sitters as well as the artists who painted them.

Wonderful place to visit. Brunch and a wander through the galleries. We were lucky enough to be there when the chorus for Esther were in rehearsal. The accoustics in the main entry hall are amazing.

Great place to spend a good few hrs just wondering around looking at amazing art

The work is exceptional and inspirational. Well worth seeing, free event with some of the greatest portrait painters.

First time visit and I loved it. The range of portraits is terrific. I was impressed with the celebration of woman and the wonderful portraits of important aboriginal people. Do yourself a favour.

Great experience. Would have liked to read more about the artists, and was sad/concerned about the absence of measures to protect the paintings from idiots. I feel a bit sorry for security staff in that regard. Exceptional collection. that should be looked after better.

A lovely place to visit in Canberra. Very interesting portraits and photographs of past and present notable Australians. Has a good cafe

I found it very educational, plan to spend a couple of hours there at least to make the most out of it.

Lovely place to visit. Great giftshop and cafe as well.

We saw the pets exhibition and was a great opportunity to take the children and walk around and explore. A great venue for the whole family.

Really enjoyed my visit. Lots of great art and plenty to see in the area.

All hail the #fierce and #fabulous Lee Lin Chin!
#leelinchin #queenlee #primechinister #asymmetricoutfits
https://portrait.gov.au/people/lee-lin-ch in

Join us for a rare opportunity to speak with Canberra artist Valerie Kirk about her practice, and see preparatory works for the So Fine exhibition and new works in progress.

Join us for a rare opportunity to speak with Canberra artist Nicola Dickson about her practice, and see preparatory works for our So Fine exhibition and new works in progress.
$10 or $7 members, bookings essential

'So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australia history' opens tonight! The exhibition features new work from ten artists; Linde Ivimey, Pamela See, Leah King-Smith, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Fiona McMonagle, Valerie Kirk, Nicky Dickson, Carol McGregor, Bern Emmerichs and Shirley Purdie.
The artists - of various ages, cultural backgrounds and demographic groups - present first encounters, convict experience, the suppression and survival of Indigenous people, the betrayal of children, the divided self of the immigrant and the excitement of scientific discovery. Their art practices involve painstaking, repetitive, even obsessive techniques and qualities of thoughtfulness and reflection.
So Fine will be on display here at the National Portrait Gallery until 1 October 2018 - don't miss it!

Christine Anu will perform a selection of songs from her acclaimed music career, and share personal anecdotes on life, her advocacy work for diversity and inclusion, and the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in Australian culture.
$35 ($30 members)

The National Portrait Gallery and ANU Centre for Art History and Art Theory present a forum on biography and creativity. We invite you to participate in discussions and activities bringing to life portrayals of personhood in writing and portraiture.
The forum aims to promote thinking about biographical expression. This reflects the NPG’s role as the home of portraiture, and the ANU School of Art and Design’s spirit of inspiring research in visual arts, art history & theory an...d curatorship. The forum will appeal to audiences passionate about biography and visual arts.
Contributors to the forum include Paul Capsis, Brenda L Croft, Kim Mahood, Dr Lucy Neave, Sebastian Smee, Dr Nicola Dickson, Bern Emmerichs, Linde Ivimey, Valerie Kirk, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Carol McGregor, and Pamela See (Xue Mei-Ling).
Tickets $30 for both days ($25 members)
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‘It’s yours, with love’. In 2015 the inaugural National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers painted Tim Bonyhady’s portrait, showing him on a Viennese chair, and gave the painting to him. For all their immersion in Australian art history, neither Andrew nor Tim realised there was a remarkable precursor to Tim’s portrait, painted in Melbourne more than 125 years before. In this lecture, Tim will examine the connections between this precursor and Andrew’s painting of him which was first exhibited in the 2015 Archibald Prize and has since been on show in the National Portrait Gallery.
Beginning with drinks and light refreshments, the lecture will be followed by Q&A.
Supported by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation

Planning for the school holidays? Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, Little Beauty is a playful theatrical journey in search of beauty, depicting the desire to capture beauty and immortalise it in portraiture. The vivid performance was created by Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, a Sydney multi-award-winning company for children and families, and is performed by the charismatic duo Adriano Cappelletta and Holly Austin. Free to attend!

This year's People's Choice Award for the National Photographic Portrait Prize was an incredibly close finish; Harold David's portrait 'The Honourable Bob Hawke savouring a strawberry milkshake' was just one vote ahead of the competition!
Thanks to our friends at SUNSTUDIOS, Harold will receive a Pro-1000 printer package.
These portraits were selected by you as your top five; congratulations everyone!
... The last day for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 is Sunday 17 June but then it heads off on tour - check the site to see if its coming to a gallery near you: https://nppp.portrait.gov.au/tour-schedul e/
#NPPP2018 #nationalphotographicportraitprize #peopleschoice
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Contemporary Indonesian-Australian artist Dadang Christanto performs a new work together with dancer and writer Diyah Larasati. This free performance engages with ideas of memory and remembering, exploring the tension between persistence and stillness.

Happy Mother's Day to all our mums, loved and remembered! X
Portrait of Ruth Cracknell as the Sibyl, 1995 by Rosemary Valadon
https://portrait.gov.au/…/portrait-of-r uth-cracknell-as-th…/

Kayla, 2017 by Stuart Miller.
Artist's statement Kayla Doyle is a Murrawarri/Gomeroi woman and one of a growing number of Aboriginal Australians who identify as Muslim. Kayla met her Lebanese-Australian husband Khaled El-Hassan when they were teenagers. Despite being high school sweethearts, Kayla came to Islam independently of her partner, exploring faith, identity and Aboriginality. Kayla stands outside her home in Sydney’s west with her husband, five daughters – Surayah, S...elina, Amirah, Ameena and Tasneem – and her father, Aboriginal elder and traditional performer, Uncle Glen Doyle.
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist
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Katherine, NT / Harrietville, VIC, 2017 by Rhett Hammerton.
Artist's statement: This pairing of images forms part of a larger portrait series titled Cold Drinks/Hot Showers. A portable portrait studio was established in some of the Northern Territory’s more isolated roadhouses, with passers-by approached to be sitters. The subsequent imagery provides an insight into the conflicting contexts of Northern Australia – home and escape, adventure and malaise, affluence and penury. ...With the roadhouse providing both literal backdrop and metaphorical axis between cultures, classes and identities, themes of transience and disparity emerge to be explored. Individual portraits are named after each sitter’s home and paired in contrasting diptychs, further highlighting tensions amid inconsistent and often incongruous Australian identities and ideologies.
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist
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We're very excited to announce that Headhunt! our brand new interactive Gallery experience for kids (and their adults!) has won a GLAMi Award at the Museums and the Web conference in Vancouver!
https://mw18.mwconf.org/glami-finalists/< br> So much love for our Digital Partners Stripy Sock!
... Headhunt! is available for school groups during the school terms and family groups on weekends and school holidays. Come and see what all the fuss is about! https://portrait.gov.au/content/headhunt/
#MW18 #GLAMiAward #innovation #kidsactivities #thingstodoincanberra #visitcanberra #Award #app
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Charlotte, 2017 by Laura Sikes.
Artist's statement: My sister Charlotte, staying with me during a difficult time with her mental health.
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist

Meagan Pelham, 2017 by Lyndal Irons Photography.
Artist's statement: Artist Meagan Pelham’s ability to feel romance at every moment is brought to life in illustrations of mocktails, owls and weddings. She believes owls to be the most romantic animal, and the materials of her mask – felt, lace, glitter paint and wedding beads – reflect this. ‘I dream all the time and I like my dreams a lot.’
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist

The great echo chamber, 2017 by Dianne Jones.
Artist's statement: The great echo chamber is my response as an Aboriginal woman to political debates in a house of parliament. The drama of ceremony and speeches contrasts with the ordinary, mundane embodiment of power. This ‘heart of democracy’ is idealised as representative, yet many of the faces are similar. Decisions are made for Aboriginal peoples. Alienated in this room of white governance, I explore how I inhabit the centre, sitting in the seats and performing the bodily language of members of parliament: bored, excited, inspired, angry, jaded, chewing gum and asleep.
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist

Roo shooter’s offsider, 2017 by Adam Ferguson.
Artist's statement: Dwayne John, aged 30 from Broken Hill, works as a kangaroo shooter’s offsider. 70 times a night, after a roo jolts and falls in the spotlight, Dwayne hauls the carcass onto the back of a truck. I made this picture of Dwayne in the early hours of a hot morning on Plumbago Station in South Australia. To me, Dwayne holding this kangaroo symbolises the human attempt to tame the land.
#NPPP2018 #NationalPhotographicPortraitPrize #finalist

A fantastic, informative and beautiful exhibition.

A fantastic, informative and beautiful exhibition.

A fantastic, informative and beautiful exhibition.

A fantastic, informative and beautiful exhibition.