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Sculpture Garden

Photograph of sculpture garden with Virginia by Clement Meadmore in foreground and lake in background

Clement Meadmore, Virginia, 1970, purchased 1973 © Meadmore Sculptures, LLC. VAGA/Copyright Agency

  • About
  • Highlights

About

The grounds that lie between the National Gallery and the shores of Lake Burley Griffin were configured to display the Gallery's extensive collection of sculpture.

After a few years in the planning, earthworks and plantings commenced on the National Gallery sculpture garden in 1981. Harry Howard and Associates and James Mollison, the Gallery's first Director, designed this garden to complement the building. The diagonal of the main pathway and the floor plan of the garden repeats the triangular architecture of the main building.

The innovative landscape design included a set of 'outside rooms' plantings that showcased 26 sculptures made by international and Australian artists. Most of the sculptures were bought and placed in the garden during the early 1980s and reflect the abstract, industrial aesthetic of that time, however there are some works that are more evocative, for example the fog sculpture by Fujiko Nakaya and the Pukamani burial poles nearby. Antony Gormley's life-sized maquette for Angel of the North which faces the lake, was a significant addition in 2010.

The plants are native to Australia and were selected for their tolerance of Canberra's severe winter conditions and long hot dry summers. The seasons of the year form the main design structure with the Winter garden close to the building with warm winter slate and winter flowering acacias and the earliest figurative works of art. The Summer garden is the shady area beneath the Casuarinas and near the marsh pond. The Spring garden, full of spring flowering Grevilleas and Acacias is closer to the lake. The Autumn garden was never fully realised.

Fujiko Nakaya's fog sculpture Foggy wake in a desert: An ecosphere is in operation 12.30pm – 2pm daily.

Highlights


A group of seven brown metal pear sculptures

George Baldessin, Pear - version number 2, 1973, purchased 1973.

a large spherical metal sculpture with engraved markings sitting within a garden

Thanakupi (Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher AO), Dhaynagwidh/Thaynakwith people, Eran, 2010, acquired through the Founding Donors' Fund 2010 © the estate of the artist, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd.

A black sculpture of an orangutan's foot on a yellow base

Lisa Roet, Orangutan Foot, 2007-08, Gift of Richard and Jan Frolich 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A large wooden sculpture of a crocodile like head on brick steps

Bruce Armstrong, Head, 1986, purchased 1988

Photograph of trees and fog in garden

Fujiko Nakaya, Foggy wake in a desert: An ecosphere 1982, Purchased 1977

Photograph outside in the sculpture garden facing sculpture in T shape

Find more in the Sculpture Garden


  • Linda Marrinon: Woman in jumpsuit
    Art Makers x National Gallery

    The first in the Art Makers commission series, Linda Marrinon’s Woman in jumpsuit is located in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden.

  • Tracey Emin’s When I sleep

    Tracey Emin’s large-scale bronze sculpture When I sleep 2018 will rest permanently in the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden.

  • James Turrell's 'Within without'

    Large sculptural work, pyramid shaped with greenery on the side of the structure.

    Within without is a major Skyspace by American artist James Turrell, one of his largest and most complex to date.

  • Fiona Hall's Fern Garden

    Photograph of Fiona Hall's Fern Garden

    At the beginning of 1996 Mary Eagle, then the National Gallery's Senior Curator of Australian Art, approached Fiona Hall to consider a commission.

  • Project

    Lindy Lee: Ouroboros
    2024

    Australian artist Lindy Lee will create her first immersive public sculpture, Ouroboros, commissioned for the Gallery's 40th Anniversary.

  • Australians in the Sculpture Garden

    A photograph of seven alternating silver chrome cones

    Read about the seasons of the National Gallery of Australia’s world-renowned Sculpture Garden, with a special focus on some of the big Australians.

    Read Time 13 minutes

Yuuma, Gurruburri

The National Gallery acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.

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The National Gallery acknowledges the First Peoples of this land and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country

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Aerial view of artist Lola Greeno walking along Rocky Beach
Aerial view of artist Lola Greeno walking along Rocky Beach
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