The National Gallery of Australia is a major art gallery (museum) in Canberra, Australia. It is Australia's "national art gallery" funded by the Federal Government.

Major Displays:

• Australian art
  • Art in the Aboriginal Tradition (mostly recent, but in traditional forms)
  • Art in the European Tradition
• Western art (from Medieval to Modern, mostly Modern)
• Eastern art (from South and East Asia, mostly traditional)
• Modern Art (international)
• Crafts (dishes to dresses, international)
• Sculpture Garden (Rodin to Modern)
• Visiting exhibits

As of this writing, the Gallery is open daily, and closes at 5pm. The fog sculpture in the sculpture garden is only operated between noon and 2pm. This sculpture has been seen as a work of Gas sculpture. Admission is free except to the visiting exhibits. There is a cafe and a gift shop on the premises.

It takes about 2-3 hours to walk through the gallery with a cursory examination of all the displays, and longer to have a more detailed look.

The focus of the Gallery's international collection is primarily on 19th century and later art ^*. There is a strong collection of modern works.

The most internationally famous work in the Gallery is Blue Poles, painted in 1952 by American artist Jackson Pollock. The purchase, under the auspices of the Whitlam government, was politically extremely controversial, though history has shown that the painting's reputation (and value) has grown enormously.

Expensive works purchased

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Although Blue Poles is the most well known expensive painting bought by the gallery, there have been more expensive works bought since.

• $7.4 million for After Cezanne by Lucian Freud
• $4.6 million for A Bigger Grand Canyon by David Hockney
• $3.5 million for Golden Summer, Eaglemont by Arthur Streeton
• $1.3 million for Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock (US$2 million in 1974)
• $650,000 for Woman V by Willem de Kooning (US$1 million in 1974)
• $800,000 for Pregnant Woman by Ron Mueck

In September 2005, the gallery refused the offer to buy Sketch for Deluge II by Wassily Kandinsky for $35 million.

Major exhibitions

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• The Great Impressionist Exhibition (1984)
• New Worlds from Old 19th Century Australian and American Landscapes (1998)
• Rembrandt, A Genius and his Impact (1997-98)
• An Impressionist Legacy, Monet to Moore, The Millennium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation (1999)
• William Robinson, A Retrospective (2001-02)
• Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, Sculpture and Drawings (2001-02)
• Monet & Japan (2001)
• ''Margaret Preston, Australian printmaker (2004-05)
• No ordinary place, the art of David Malangi (2004)
• ''The Edwardians, secrets and desires (2004)
• ''Bill Viola, The Passions (2005)
• ''James Gleeson, Beyond the screen of sight (2005)
• ''Constable, impressions of land, sea and sky (2005)

See also

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• Art of Australia
• National Gallery of Victoria, another Australian gallery
• Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney art gallery

External link

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• Home page of the National Gallery of Australia

Art museums and galleries in Australia | Buildings and structures in Canberra | Brutalist structures