National Portrait Gallery

Bogong moths to immerse oneself in, gorgeous artwork by excellent portraitists and a bookshop for inspiration for those of us aspiring to be artists.

Saw the Australian Love Stories exhibition. Even if you are not onto art or photography just the stories will entertain you.

Always great portraits here and love the simple gallery layout with lobby in the centre.friendly and helpful staff.

A great experience viewing both the special exhibition and the rest of the gallery. We appreciated the help and input of the staff there who are really engaged with the works on dispkay.

Extremely overcrowded at the current exhibition. Limited social distancing observed. No indoor cafe available. All previous visits were better than this one. Possibly Covid is contributing to this.

A beautiful place with interesting spaces. Botticelli to Van Gogh was great. Know My Name, Stage One even better. Aboriginal Australian artists. Fantastic. Stage Two is progressing. A great shop with objects and cards for all tastes and price ranges. Lillian

First visit in ages and was so glad to rediscover it. The atmosphere, collection and staff just great. Planning a return visit to see the Love Story Exhibition. Highly recommend it does on you list tourist or local.

I dont believe that what they are displaying is Art, just imagine a large set of false teeth stuck to an electric tooth brush or 6 bottles stuck to a sloping piece of wood

Usually a fantastic venue, but on this visit I felt that the exhibition was not worthy of the venue. The exhibition seemed to be pandering to the "woke" trend. I won't be back.

Went to see sunflowers by Van Gogh.just 100 out of 100 loved it! Easy.organised.clean.user friendly.beautiful day in the ACT

A thoughtful display of significant Australian portraits. The portrait I revisit everytime I go there is Evert Ploeg's "Deborah Mailman" (oil on jute) 1999. To me it is the best portrait in the gallery. I mean to say there are some nice portraits of Quentin Bryce and Patrick Dodson et al. However to me a must see is Deborah Mailman. I was there for the NGA exhibition but I had to pop in to feast my eyes on this painting.

Dont ever go for their high tea. This is a great gallery but when it comes to delivering on a high tea experience they are totally and utterly abysmal. Stick to Botticelli

Another wonderful gallery, and another amazing building in itself. Lucky enough to see the Australian Love Stories Exhibition. I'll be back

If you want to come close with some of Australian icons, visit National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, set in a beautiful precinct on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.

Excellent gallery, really friendly helpful staff great Portraits, loved the portrait of Margaret Whitlam shot by Sahlan Hayes and the shot of young Charlie Perkins sitting in a bus by Robert Mcfarlane, excuse the reflections

The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra is a collection of portraits of prominent Australians (by birth or association) who are important in their field of endeavour or whose life sets them apart as an individual of long-term public interest. The collection was established in May 1998, and until 2008 was housed in Old Parliament House and in a nearby gallery on Commonwealth Place. On 4 December 2008, its purpose-built permanent home was opened on King Edward Terrace, Canberra – beside the High Court of Australia – by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In the early 1900s, the painter Tom Roberts was the first to propose that Australia should have a national portrait gallery, but it was not until the 1990s that the possibility began to take shape.

The 1992 exhibition Uncommon Australians – developed by the Gallery's founding patrons, Gordon and Marilyn Darling – was shown in Canberra and toured to four state galleries, igniting the idea of a national portrait gallery. In 1994, under the management of the National Library of Australia, the Gallery's first exhibition was launched in Old Parliament House. It was a further four years before the appointment of Andrew Sayers as inaugural Director signalled the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery as an institution in its own right, with a board, a budget and a brief to develop its own collection. The opening of displays in the refurbished Parliamentary Library and two adjacent wings of Old Parliament House in 1999 endorsed the Gallery's status and arrival as an independent institution.

While the spaces of Old Parliament House proved adaptable to the National Portrait Gallery's programs, its growing profile and collection necessitated the move to a dedicated building. Funding for the $87 million building was provided in the 2005 Federal Budget and Sydney-based architectural firm Johnson Pilton Walker was awarded the job of creating the Gallery, with construction commencing in December 2006. The new National Portrait Gallery opened to the public on 4 December 2008.

The Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize (NPPP) is a highlight of the Australian arts calendar. Judges select 40 to 50 finalists from thousands of entries from across the nation, with these comprising the annual NPPP exhibition. 2020 also sees the arrival of the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize for painted portraits, featuring a AUD$75,000 winner’s prize. The Darling Prize exhibition’s March opening means it joins the NPPP in the Gallery’s autumn calendar, with the two exhibitions presented in tandem as the Gallery’s inaugural ‘National Portrait Prizes’.

The inaugural prize was awarded to Anthea da Silva for her portrait of dancer and choreographer Elizabeth Cameron Dalman.

Lots of beautiful artwork and touching stories to be found at NPG. If portraits are your thing then this is a must do in Canberra.

Had a good browse of the exhibition - Australian Love Stories. Kudos to the curator and storyteller of each love story:)

One of the gems of Canberra. The stories beside the portraits are very well written. Not too many words, but always interesting. The variety of portrait styles is also impressive.

Diverse collections of portraits on different media of different famous and not so famous people in Australia collected on different eras. It shows how colourful Australia is.