Skip to main content
Menu

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.

Margaret Seares

Margaret Seares, 2018

by Cherry Hood
General content

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Wild Man, 2005 by Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck

More about In the flesh artists

Ron Mueck grew up in Melbourne and began a career in puppetry and special-effects based in the US and then London. In the mid-1990s Charles Saatchi commissioned four major works including Dead dad, which were exhibited in Saatchi’s exhibition ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy, London and which travelled to Berlin and Brooklyn.

Gail Kelly

Gail Kelly, 2018

by Paul Newton
General content

Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018

Richard Morecroft & Alison Mackay, 2016 by Gary Grealy

Gary Grealy wins National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

31 March 2017
Archived media releases 2017

After months of anticipation, the winner for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 has been announced with renowned Sydney portrait photographer Gary Grealy taking out the award. George Fetting, guest judge for the 2017 Prize, was entranced with the evocative nature of the winning portrait Richard Morecroft and Alison Mackay.

Portrait of TERROIR, 2009 by Brett Boardman

TERROIR

General content

TERROIR directors Gerard Reinmuth, Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe believe that the practice of architecture is the production of knowledge.

Ken Catchpole

Rugby great unveiled

1 December 2014
Archived media releases 2014

A new portrait commission of Australian Rugby great, Ken Catchpole OAM by Gary Grealy will be officially unveiled on 3 December.

Ned Kelly death mask

The Waxworks

General content

Waxworks were among the various types of entertainment venue to emerge in Australian cities in the mid-nineteenth century. 

Terry Snow and China

Portrait Gallery unveils new commission

1 December 2017
Archived media releases 2017

The National Portrait Gallery unveiled its most recent portrait commission for the collection on Thursday 30 November 2017.

The Go-Betweens, London, c.1986 Warwick Orme

Oz Indie

Under the Milky Way tonight
General content

It was the era of recording your favourite songs directly from the radio; of seeing the latest acts and clips on Countdown; and when the Aussie bands you saw on TV and heard in the charts were the ones you could see live at the pub.

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

9 September 2016
Archived media releases 2016

The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.

Arthur Streeton

The 1890s to the 1940s

Mo and beard timeline

Although the tough, weathered, hard-drinking bushmen of the kind mythologised by writers like Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson are popularly associated with the character of late nineteenth century Australia, it was also a time when alternative ideas about identity began to come into play.

Pimple, 2007 by Yang Na

Yang Na

Featured Artists

Born 1983, Chongqing, Sichuan Province. Lives and works in Beijing.

Bree Pickering

Executive

Our team

National Portrait Gallery Director Bree Pickering leads the executive team.

Past, present, future, 2002 by Wang Qingsong
M+ Sigg Collection

Chinese Art

General content

A short overview of modern Chinese art from 1949 to the present.

David Stratton, 2012
 by Sharon Zwi

Sharon Zwi

Finalist interviews

We were in Gaza shooting a documentary and we had heard about the orphanages and wanted to visit and document some of the children who had lost parents during the wars in Gaza.

Guthugga Pipeline, Christmas Show, upstairs, The (old) Griffin Centre, Civic, 22 December 1979. Crowd, L-R : Ben Donaldson, Anne Redmond, Nick Vollis, Esa  Makela, Megan Woodrow (Mohawk), Andy Hall (scarf) 'pling

Capital Cool

Stop in all the byways, playin' rock 'n roll
General content

Outsiders tend to give Canberra a bad rap: sterile, plagued by politicians, a comatose capital for professionals and academics. Nick Cave once said he didn’t like the city because there were too many punks.

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
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