© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Elegance in exile
Portrait drawings from colonial Australia
Previous exhibition, 2012
Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.
Digital Portraiture Award 2016
Previous exhibition, 2016
An annual event to extend traditional notions of portraiture and foster emerging artists with an interest in new technology.
Time and Line
In Gallery Seven
Previous exhibition, 2022
Encompassing the 1820s to the 2020s, Time and Line showcases the depth and extent of our drawing collection.
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012
Previous exhibition, 2012
The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.
Beauty and strength
Portraits by Michael Riley
Previous exhibition, 2014
Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.
Ralph Heimans
Portraiture. Power. Influence.
Previous exhibition, 2024
The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.
Dempsey's people
A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844
Previous exhibition, 2017
Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.
Life and time
Portraits by Rod McNicol
Previous exhibition, 2015
Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate.
Impressions
Painting light and life
Previous exhibition, 2011
Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.
Australian Love stories
Family, friends, fanatics and foes (and everything in between!)
Previous exhibition, 2021
Reconnect and reflect with our new major exhibition, Australian Love Stories (in real life!) as we explore love, affection and connection in all its guises.
Presence and Absence
Portrait Sculpture in Australia
Previous exhibition, 2003
This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day
Sir William Dargie
A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute
Previous exhibition, 2002
As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October
Judy Cassab
The artist's diary
Previous exhibition, 2013
The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.
Mark Strizic
A Journey in Photography
Previous exhibition, 2004
This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.
Hall of Mirrors
Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007
Previous exhibition, 2007
Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.
The World of Thea Proctor
Previous exhibition, 2005
The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual