Celebrating 12 million visitors

Since the National Gallery's touring program commenced 36 years ago, 1918 partnerships have been undertaken with galleries across Australia, and through 148 touring exhibitions, displayed over 10,000 works of art to audiences from Toowoomba to St Petersburg.

In 2024, we achieved an important milestone of 12 million visitors to touring exhibitions – to celebrate, we look at the 12 most popular exhibitions of the touring program.

1. Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902–1959

When: 2002
Visitor numbers: 500,000+

Albert Namatjira, a traditional custodian of Arrernte Country, was one of Australia’s best-known landscape artists. His iconic works are synonymous with the light and features of the Australian outback.

Despite being one of Australia’s most acclaimed artists this 2002 exhibition saw the first ever comprehensive survey of his painting career. Opening to the public 100 years after his birth on 28 July 1902, Seeing the Centre reassessed the life and art of Albert Namatjira, exploring how through his paintings Namatjira expressed his relationship with untouched Country across the Western Aranda/West MacDonnell ranges on the outskirts of Alice Springs.

Previously, the mainstream art world had dismissed his works. This exhibition sought to redress this neglect, curating works of art from all phases of his career in a thematic display alongside contextual works from his training at Hermannsburg under the guidance of Rex Battarbee.

The collection drew our eyes and our senses to new ways of seeing Central Australia. Namatjira’s study of his Country in a European style of painting prompted viewers to see the beauty and complexity of the Red Centre, shifting perceptions from it being a ‘dead heart’ to an iconic Australian landscape.

2. The Aboriginal Memorial

When: 2000
Visitor numbers: 500,000+

The excitement of 2000 Sydney Olympics piqued interest from Europe to learn more about First Nations history. Enter: a world tour of Aboriginal Art in Modern Worlds. The exhibition travelled across the globe from Australia via Europe to St Petersburg, Russia.

An exploration of age-old traditions meeting contemporary reality, the exhibition featured works of art from Emily Kam Knawarray (Anmatyerr peoples), Nym Bunduk (Murrinh-Patha peoples), Rover Joolama Thomas (Kukatja/Wangkajunga peoples), John Mawurndjul AM, Kuninjku (Eastern Kunwinjku) people, Fiona Foley (Badtjala peoples), Tracey Moffatt, Ramingining artists (Djambarrpuyngu, Dhuwala and Dhay’yi peoples) and Wik artists (Wik-Mungkan, Wik-Alkan, Wik-Ngathan and Kugu Uwanh peoples).

Demonstrating how contemporary First Nations artists remain connected to culture in modern life, the exhibition explored language, customs, laws, spiritual beliefs and artistic traditions on the world’s stage inviting global conversation about the socio-political history of colonisation in Australia and the complex and rich history of First Nations culture.

3. Techno Craft: the work of Susan Cohn 1980 to 2000

When: 2000
Visitor numbers: 490,000+

Techno Craft surveyed 20 years of Susan Cohn’s practice in jewellery and metalwork. A globally renowned artist, her pieces are an amalgamation of art and technology.

From bracelets to sculptural installations, the exhibition explored electronic, digital and medical technology with references to street and youth culture, and the futuristic visions of cyberspace.

4. War: The Prints of Otto Dix

When: 2007
Visitor numbers: 460,307

Otto Dix served in the First World War as a machine-gunner on the Western Front where he created 51 etchings based on his sketches and memories. Haunted by his recollections and the trauma of war, Dix transferred his experience onto paper in the series War [Der Krieg] 1924.

The War remains a moving indictment of World War I, as Dix said:

'I did not paint war pictures in order to prevent war. I would never have been so arrogant. I painted them to exorcise the experience of war. All art is about exorcism.'

5. Picasso: The Vollard Suite

When: 2017
Visitor numbers: 370,000+

The Vollard Suite is perhaps one of the most enigmatic print suites of the twentieth century. Comprising 100 intaglio prints, the suite was made by Pablo Picasso between 1930 and 1937 in France.

Named after Ambroise Vollard, the foremost French art dealer and publisher. Vollard had been instrumental in the production of these works, although his untimely death in 1939 meant that management of the suite was passed on. They were finally released to the public in 1950.

6. Out & About: The National Gallery tours Australia – Pollock

When: 2003
Visitor numbers: 340,000+

To mark the 20th anniversary of the National Gallery of Australia, renowned and treasured pieces from the National Collection travelled to venues across Australia.

In August 1973 the Australian Government, through the National Gallery’s director, James Mollison, controversially purchased Blue poles by Jackson Pollock for $1.3 million ($11 million in today’s money). At the time it was the most ever paid for an American painting in the world. Today Blue poles is estimated to be worth over $500 million.

Jackson Pollock’s Blue poles captured his iconic radical, expressive painting style at the forefront of the Abstract Expressionism movement.

Controversial at the time, today it is the most viewed work of art in the history of the National Gallery.

Blue poles toured to the National Gallery of Victoria over the summer period of 2003-04.

7. Being and Nothingness: Bea Maddock

When: 1992
Visitor numbers: 280,000+

This survey of Bea Maddock’s (1934–2016) works explored the important stages of her creative development from her practice at the Slade School, London, to her work in Australia.

Maddock’s works in the 1960s emphasised her innovative printmaking skill. In the 1970s she produced word-images and works that incorporated collage and photographic elements.

This touring exhibition travelled to the National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art in NSW and to Maddock’s home of Launceston, Tasmania.

8. Claude Flight and His Followers: The Colour Linocut Movement between the Wars

When: 1992
Visitor numbers: 250,000+

Claude Flight was known as the father of the linocut movement in the United Kingdom. He taught at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London between the two world wars.

He inspired a following of gifted students, including Cyril E. Power, Sybil Andrews, Eileen Mayo (UK), Lill Tschudi (Switzerland), Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers, Eveline Syme (Australia) and Frank Weitzel (New Zealand).

This global movement established linocut as a twentieth century print technique. The modern medium reflected the speed and dynamism of the period.

9. 2005 National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition Macquarie Bank Tour

When: 2005
Visitors: 240,000+

The 2005 of the National Sculpture Prize featured contemporary Australian artworks from 39 artists.

The winner was Glen Clarke with American crater near Hanoi #2 with the People’s Choice awarded to Geoffrey Drake-Brockman for Floribots.

The prize introduced emerging artists to a national audience and exhibited their works alongside those of Australia’s leading sculptors. It was a vital forum where artists could present major new works.

This exhibition saw works of art in unexpected places, displayed at the Macquarie Bank in Melbourne and Sydney enabling greater foot traffic and visibility in city centres. The prize had remarkable impact on Australian sculpture and reignited the art scene with a record 636 entries.

10. Colin McCahon

When: 2007
Visitor numbers: 210,000+

Colin McCahon (1919-1987) was one of the Aotearoa/New Zealand’s most renowned and respected artists.

He is credited with introducing modernism to New Zealand and his practice included landscape, figuration, abstraction and the overlay of painted text.

The National Gallery hosted a exhibition with paintings and works on paper spanning the 1950s to early 1980s. The exhibition toured across Australia (QVMAG, Dell Gallery) and New Zealand (Dunedin, Christchurch Art Gallery).

It aligned with the 30th anniversary of the Aotearoa/New Zealand government gifting Australia the iconic work, Victory over death 2 1970 which has become a destination work for the National Gallery.

11. Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia

When: 2021
Visitor numbers: 200,000+

Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia surveyed historical and contemporary works by over 170 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia.

Drawn from the collections of the National Gallery and the Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, the international tour saw presentations in Boorloo/Perth, Singapore and Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Although Ever Present was a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, it did not shy away from Australia’s complex histories. The works challenged stereotypes about First Nations people and what defines their art. The artists contested populist views of Australian history, using art as a tool of resistance and replacing physical weaponry with wit, satire and juxtaposition to confront viewers and to encourage conversations that are essential to dispute outdated myths and ideologies.

Ever Present is currently on display at the National Gallery until 24 August 2025.

12. Douglas Annand: the art of life

When: 2002
Visitor numbers: 200,000+

This exhibition was the first to recognise Douglas Annand's enormous contribution to the development of Australian Modernism.

An artist and designer of great ability and style, Annand was a contemporary and friend of Sydney Ure-Smith, Gordon Andrews, Max Dupain and Russell Drysdale.

From the early 1930s Annand set new standards for Australian designers with images that were international in their philosophy, yet 'typically Australian' and 'typically Annand'.

Douglas Annand: the art of life across the country at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery and Australian National Maritime Museum.

And now?

Touring exhibitions continue to be a pivotal part of the National Gallery’s offering. These important programs expand our reach beyond the Kamberri/Canberra region and embraces our mandate as a truly national institution.

As we continue to increase sharing art across Australia in bold and new ways, we hope to inspire and attract new audiences across Australia.