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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Portraits

Famous to notorious, remarkable to glorious. Check out some of the people and artists who have shaped our national identity. Discover who’s included in the collection (so far!) using the search tool below or by browsing the highlights, topical works or those on display.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

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Show portraits

Highlights
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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
2009

Guido Maestri

Nick Cave

Nick Cave
1999

Howard Arkley

Dr John Yu

Dr John Yu
2004

Ah Xian

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN
1782

John Webber

Deborah Mailman

Deborah Mailman
1999

Evert Ploeg

HM Queen Elizabeth II

HM Queen Elizabeth II
2001

Polly Borland

Charles Teo

Charles Teo
2012

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Marcia Langton

Marcia Langton
2009

Brook Andrew, Trent Walter

Emily Kame Kngwarreye with Lily

Emily Kame Kngwarreye with Lily
1993

Jenny Sages

Topical
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Les Blakebrough

Les Blakebrough
1971 (printed 2009)

Douglas Thompson

Les Murray

Les Murray
1995

David Naseby

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton
2016

Evert Ploeg

On display
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Bernard Smith

Bernard Smith
1985

Albert Tucker

Sir John Eccles

Sir John Eccles
1959

Pam MacFarlane

The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy

The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy
2018

Deidre But-Husaim

Portrait Stories
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Bob Hawke

Luke Cornish

'I love getting into the Salon as a street artist because the whole ethos of that award is the refused, the rejected'
Play on (A portrait of Neale Daniher)

Michael Peck

'I've been interested in realism for forever'
Missy Higgins

Julian Kingma

'I look for those little, quiet gestures in between'

Related information

The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance

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The National Portrait Gallery building at night
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The National Portrait Gallery building at night

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© National Portrait Gallery 2023
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
Fax +61 2 6102 7001
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency