National Gallery announces 2024-2025 program
Key information
MEDIA RELEASE
3 SEP 2024
The National Gallery of Australia has announced its forthcoming program of exhibitions in Kamberri/Canberra and across Australia. Highlights include Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar retrospectives; international modern art from Museum Berggruen, Berlin; the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial; and new displays showcasing the depth and richness of the national collection. Patricia Piccinini’s skywhales return to the sky and a show on the art of music posters is set to tour the country.
National Gallery Director Dr Nick Mitzevich: ‘Our program offers diverse and culturally dynamic experiences, presenting international and Australian art highlights and reinforcing our commitment to First Nations voices and gender equity. Through art we hope to connect people with Australia’s stories while also reflecting on the historical and contemporary interconnections between here and other parts of the world.’
In a summer double bill, Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar retrospectives will invite visitors to explore the lives and artistic legacies of these important women artists, who were innovators in the Australian art world. While both were practising artists in the early 20th century, Carrick and Dangar developed their own unique voices and styles. Truly transnational Carrick lived between France and Australia and travelled across Europe, India and North Africa, creating bold and vibrant post-impressionist paintings, including of marketplaces, beach scenes and figure studies in diverse contexts; while Dangar became a pioneer of cubist pottery, synthesising traditional methods with bold, abstract designs. These exhibitions continue the National Gallery’s Know My Name initiative, addressing the underrepresentation of women artists and their stories within Australian art history.
In winter 2025, Cézanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie will showcase modern art highlights drawn from Berlin’s Museum Berggruen including works by Paul Cézanne, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, George Braque and Henri Matisse. In their first showing in Australia, over 80 works of art will travel to Kamberri/Canberra from this important collection developed by the German-American art collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen. Berggruen played a significant role in the post-World War II European modern art market. Bergrruen sold his collection considerably below market value to the German state in 2000, seven years before his death. The National Gallery’s collection will be in dialogue with these works, telling the story of the rise of Modernism in Australia through moments of contact and exchange.
Two new displays will showcase works by women artists in the national collection, including recent acquisitions. Highlighting French artist Sonia Delaunay’s influence on the Australia’s fashion icons Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, Know My Name: Kee, Jackson and Delaunay will be a colourful celebration of three visionary artists. Know My Name: Global features works by living women artists such as Judy Chicago and Vivienne Binns who have pushed the limits of artistic practice through their experimentation with form and colour, combined with strategies of activism, disruption and shock.
Opening summer 2025, the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain will take over the major exhibition galleries before embarking on a national tour in 2026, supported by First Nations Art Partner Wesfarmers Arts. Recently announced Artistic Director, Tony Albert (Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples), will bring new perspectives to the Triennial, working closely with First Nations artists from across Australia. After the Rain celebrates intergenerational legacies and presents new immersive projects that resonate with the idea of rebirth and cycles of cleansing. In 2025, Wesfarmers Arts will also support showcasing First Nations art on the international stage with the major exhibition Emily Kam Kngwarray to be presented in one of the world’s most visited galleries – the Tate Modern.
A dynamic program of collection presentations will showcase the breadth and depth of the national collection and highlight new acquisitions. From Australia’s love affair with the car, to humanity’s complex relationship with nature, to celebrating Papua New Guinea’s 50th Independence Anniversary, these changing displays will tell new stories and offer visitors a deep dive into the national collection.
Through Art Across Australia programs, including touring exhibitions and Sharing the National Collection, people across the country will have even greater access to the national collection. Two exciting art experiences featuring on the touring exhibitions program from late 2024 are Patricia Piccinini’s beloved skywhale hot air balloons with Skywhales Across Australia and Enjoy this trip: The art of music posters – an exhibition capturing the spirit of a time as an era of experimentation with poster art from the 1960s to 1980s.
Funded by the Australian Government under the National Cultural Policy Revive, the National Gallery’s Sharing the National Collection program enters its second year. The program allows the Gallery to share much-loved works of art with regional galleries and cultural institutions across the country on long-term loans. In the first year, loans have been supported in every state and territory with over 50 works earmarked for display. Upcoming loans include sending works of art to Ipswich Art Gallery (Qld), Tamworth Regional Gallery (NSW) and Burnie Arts Centre (Tas).
National Gallery Director Dr Nick Mitzevich: ‘Art Across Australia allows us to pursue our ambition to share art with as many people as possible. This year we celebrate 12 million people experiencing our touring exhibitions and enter the second year of the Sharing the National Collection program. We are excited to partner with more regional and suburban galleries in every state and territory to expand access to the national collection.’
2024-25 PROGRAM
See below.
IMAGES
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
JESS BARNES
Communications Manager
M | +61 437 986 286
E | jessica.barnes@nga.gov.au or media@nga.gov.au
The National Gallery acknowledges the generosity of key partners and philanthropic supporters who make the 2024-2025 program possible.
PARTNERS
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Wesfarmers Arts
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Visit Canberra ACT Government
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Seven West Media (SWM)
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Qantas
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Pallion logo
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Australian Government
2024-2025 PROGRAM
UPCOMING
EVER PRESENT: FIRST PEOPLES ART OF AUSTRALIA
Exhibition
14 Sep 2024 – 24 Aug 2025 | Free
Following a national and international tour, Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia opens in Kamberri/Canberra. A survey of historical and contemporary works of art by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia, this exhibition draws from the national collection and Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art.
MASAMI TERAOKA AND JAPANESE UKIYO-E PRINT
Exhibition
21 Sep 2024 – 6 Jul 2025 | Free
During the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese-born, US-based artist Masami Teraoka used the traditional style of ukiyo-e woodblock prints to comment on contemporary themes, including globalisation, cultural collisions between Asian and western cultures, and the AIDS crisis. Featuring Teraoka’s works alongside traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints, this exhibition will delve into their visual, strategic and thematic connections.
NATURE
Collection display
From Oct 2024, Free
This selection explores works that draw their inspiration from nature by twenty-five artists from the national collection, including AES+F, Inge King, Yayoi Kusama, Eko Nugroho and Brett Whiteley. The works are cast, carved, painted, assembled and woven investigations of nature across cultures, materials, time and traditions.
LINDY LEE: OUROBOROS
Sculpture Garden commission
From 25 Oct 2024 | Free
Lindy Lee’s immersive new public sculpture Ouroboros is based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail, as seen across multiple cultures and over millennia. A symbol of the cycles of life, death and renewal, it reflects Lee’s deep fascination with the cosmos. Installed in the National Sculpture Garden, visitors will be able to enter the ‘mouth’ of the sculpture and experience its darkened interior being illuminated by the light beams that emanate from thousands of perforations. During the day, its surface reflects images of the surrounding environment. At night, Ouroboros returns its light to the world.
LINDY LEE
Exhibition
25 Oct 2024 – Jun 2025 | Free
Complementing the unveiling of Ouroboros, Lindy Lee brings together highlights from across the artist’s career as well as Lee’s new installation work Charred forest and works on paper.
KULATA TJUTA: TIRKILPA
Major Project
23 Nov 2024 – 13 Jul 2025 | Free
Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is the largest and most significant installation of the culturally important and visually spectacular Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project. Kulata Tjuta is an ongoing cultural maintenance project that shares the skills of making spears across generations. It started as a small project involving five men in Amata and has grown to include over 100 Aṉangu men across the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.
ETHEL CARRICK
Major exhibition
7 Dec 2024 – 27 Apr 2025 | Free
Ethel Carrick (1872–1952) was a pioneering artist who forged new ground in the early twentieth century with her bold, vibrant post-impressionist works. She was a truly transnational artist who was born in Britain and lived and worked primarily in France and Australia. Her art has often been considered in the light of her husband, Australian artist Emanuel Phillips Fox. However, they were only married for ten years due to his untimely passing, and she created artwork for several decades. This retrospective covers the full spectrum of Carrick’s career, including her extensive travels through Europe, India and North Africa, providing an opportunity to better understand the distinctive nature of her artistic contribution, nationally and internationally. Comprising 140 works, this will be the first retrospective of Carrick’s work for nearly half a century and an opportunity to assess her work in a new light.
ANNE DANGAR
Major exhibition
7 Dec 2024 – 27 Apr 2025 | Free
Anne Dangar (1885–1951) occupies a unique position in art history as one of Australia’s most important, yet underacknowledged modern artists. She is among a very small number of Australian artists to ever form part of the European avant-garde in the 20th century, and perhaps the only one to meaningfully contribute to Cubism in France. In 1930, she travelled to an artist colony in Southern France established by the French cubist painter Albert Gleizes. She remained there until her death, using traditional methods to produce vessels decorated with bold, abstract designs constructed through cubist principles. Bringing together ceramics, paintings, works on paper and archival material, this exhibition is the first major survey of Anne Dangar’s work in Australia, offering the opportunity to consider the artist’s fascinating life and rich, cubist practice.
KNOW MY NAME: KEE, JACKSON AND DELAUNAY
Collection display
From Mar 2025 | Free
The iconic and vibrant work of leading Australian fashion designers Kee and Jackson from the 1970s and early 1980s were inspired by the dynamic legacy of international multidisciplinary artist Sonia Delaunay. Drawn from the national collection, Kee and Jackson’s garments are brought into conversation with prints, drawings, textiles and costumes by Delaunay.
KNOW MY NAME: GLOBAL
Collection display
From Apr 2025 | Free
This showcase presents works of art by living women artists who have pushed the limits of artistic practice through experimentation with form, colour, and spatial innovation from the 1960s to the present day. Colour ricochets between works in the space, deployed for formalist and conceptual concerns, as well as strategies for activism, disruption and shock.
CÉZANNE TO GIACOMETTI: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MUSEUM BERGGRUEN /
NEUE NATIONALGALERIE
Major exhibition
31 May – 21 Sep 2025 | Ticketed
Cézanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie will journey through the dynamic changes in European and Australian art in the 20th century. More than 80 works by Paul Cézanne, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Henri Matisse selected from Museum Berggruen, Berlin, will be exhibited in Australia for the first time, alongside works from the national collection. The exhibition will illustrate how social connection and networks acted as a driving force during the development of international and Australian Modernism. Exhibition organised in partnership with Berlin’s Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie.
PROOFS AND PROCESSES: THE KENNETH TYLER COLLECTION
Collection display
From Jul 2025 | Free
To celebrate the release of Tyler Graphics Catalogue Raisonné 1986—2001 in June 2025 the National Gallery will present Proofs & Processes: The Kenneth Tyler Collection – a selection of works from the catalogue alongside associated proofs and archival material that unpack their creation.
CARS
Collection display
From Aug 2025 | Free
Cars are a symbol of modernity, industrialisation, freedom and adulthood. This display will draw on new acquisitions and highlights from the national collection to tell the story of the car, highlighting its significance to life and culture through different mediums of art from around the world, featuring works by Sarah Lucas, Ben Quilty and Trent Parke.
BILONG PAPUA NEW GUINEA: REFLECTING ON 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
Collection display
From Sep 2025 | Free
To mark the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s Independence Bilong Papua New Guinea showcases the National Gallery’s remarkable collection of art from PNG across various media, including sculptures, prints, bark-cloths and bilums.
ASIAN ART
Collection display
From Oct 2025 | Free
This new collection presentation showcases recent acquisitions by artists from across Asia and the Asian Diaspora in a range of media including paintings, prints, textiles, video and photography. The display illustrates the diversity of artistic practice across the region, in a range of works dating from 1860 to 2016 and from Japan to Indonesia.
5TH NATIONAL INDIGENOUS ART TRIENNIAL: AFTER THE RAIN
Major exhibition | National tour
From 6 Dec 2025 | Free
The National Indigenous Art Triennial brings together commissioned work by established and emerging First Nations artists from across Australia, creating an important platform for art and ideas. Artistic Director for the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial is Tony Albert (Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples), one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists. After the Rain will present new immersive projects that resonate with the idea of rebirth and cycles of cleansing.
RICHARD LEWER: STEVE
Collection display
From Dec 2025 | Free
Richard Lewer’s Steve is a gentle exploration of the complexity of a family coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis. Through animation and a suite of paintings on domestic Laminex tabletops, this exhibition confronts the difficult transitions of life with reflections of the artists own experience.
CONTINUING
GAUGUIN’S WORLD: TŌNA IHO, TŌNA AO
Major exhibition
Until 7 Oct 24 | Ticketed
This exhibition is the first major showing of the art of French post-impressionist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) in Australia. Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao offers new perspectives on Gauguin’s life and work, his artistic influences and networks, as well as his historical impact and contemporary legacies.
SAVĀGE K'LUB: TE PAEPAE AORA’I – WHERE THE GODS CANNOT BE FOOLED
Exhibition
Until Mar 2025 | Free
Presented alongside Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, the SaVĀge K’lub is a multidisciplinary vehicle to explore ideas of hospitality, culture and identity. SaVĀge K’lub comes together to celebrate all forms of art and culture, collaborating to acti.VĀ.te people and things.
ANNI AND JOSEF ALBERS
Exhibition
Until 22 Sep 24 | Free
Lifelong artistic adventurers Anni and Josef Albers were leading pioneers of 20th century Modernism. Guided by Josef’s theory of colour and Anni’s formal exploration of pattern making and weaving, the exhibition brings together prints by both artists along with paintings and archival materials.
2024-25 ART ACROSS AUSTRALIA PROGRAM
UPCOMING
ENJOY THIS TRIP: THE ART OF MUSIC POSTERS
Touring exhibition
The Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre, SA | 1 Nov 2024 – 19 Jan 2025
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, NSW | 4 Apr – 25 May 2025
Home of the Arts, Qld | 7 Jun – 17 Aug 2025
Free
Drawn from the National Gallery’s expansive collection of Australian and international music posters spanning the 1960s to 1980s, Enjoy This Trip: The Art of Music Posters captures the spirit of the times and an era of experimentation.
SKYWHALES ACROSS AUSTRALIA
Touring exhibition
From November 2024 | Free
Skywhales Across Australia will see Patricia Piccinini’s beloved Skywhale and Skywhalepapa take their family on another tour of Australia.
IPSWICH ART GALLERY
Sharing the National Collection
28 Oct 2024 – 31 Oct 2026 | Free
Works by two giants of American painting — Mark Rothko and Agnes Martin — will go on display at the Ipswich Art Gallery alongside works by local Ipswich artist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.
TAMWORTH REGIONAL GALLERY
Sharing the National Collection
From 29 Nov 2024 | Free
Two of Australia’s foremost modernist artists — Grace Crowley and Grace Cossington Smith — are heading to Tamworth Regional Gallery.
CONTINUING
SHARING THE NATIONAL COLLECTION
NSW
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Temora Arts Centre
NT
Araluen Arts Centre
Qld
Texas Regional Gallery
Home of the Arts (HOTA)
SA
Waverley Park Homestead
WA
Wanneroo Regional Gallery
Vic
Central Goldfields Art Gallery
KNOW MY NAME: AUSTRALIAN WOMEN ARTISTS
Touring Exhibition
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Qld | 13 Sep – 17 Nov 2024
Rockhampton Museum of Art, Qld | 29 Nov 2024 – 1 Mar 2025
Araluen Arts Centre, NT | 14 Mar 2025 – 11 May 2025
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, WA | 30 May 2025 – 30 Aug 2025
Free
Know My Name: Australian Women Artists tells a new story of Australian art, looking at moments in which women created new forms of art and cultural commentary, it highlights creative and intellectual relationships between artists across time.
CLARICE BECKETT: PAINTINGS FROM THE NATIONAL COLLECTION
Touring Exhibition
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Vic | 24 Aug – 24 Nov 2024
Orange Regional Gallery, NSW | 6 Dec 2024 – 23 Mar 2025
Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Tas | 19 Apr – 25 May 2025
Ngunnuggula Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, NSW | 22 Nov 2025 – 25 Jan 2026
Free
Clarice Beckett: Paintings from the National Collection presents an intimate, rarely seen collection by one of the most original artists of early 20th century Australia.
RAUSCHENBERG & JOHNS: SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
Touring Exhibition
Western Plains Cultural Centre Dubbo, NSW | 1 Jun 2024 – 15 Sep 2024
Geelong Gallery, Vic | 16 Nov 2024 – 9 Feb 2025
Free
This exhibition reveals how — at the height of the abstract expressionist movement — a new avant-garde began to materialise from the same-sex relationship between two young artists: Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
SINGLE CHANNEL
Touring Exhibition
Artworks Gallery Kangaroo Island, SA | 3 Aug 2024 – 27 Sep 2024
Walkway Gallery Bordertown, SA | 19 Oct 2024 – 26 Jan 2025
Free
Drawn from the national collection, Single Channel brings together moving-image artworks from 2000 to 2019 by some of Australia's most nationally and internationally significant artists.