Past exhibitions 2016

This exhibition features six contemporary Australian artists for whom drawing is a central part of their practice and whose work engages with narrative, memory and experience.

A display of bookplates made by students of art and design at Australian tertiary institutions for the 10th anniversary of an award established by the New Australian Bookplate Society.

This masterpiece of Japanese printmaking, consisting of 100 individual prints, showcases the skill and imagination that have secured Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s place in art history.

With works by Robert Klippel, James Gleeson and Rosalie Gascoigne among others, this exhibition presents some of the key pioneers of collage and assemblage in Australia as well as more recent practitioners.

A small selection of works from this year’s scholarship winner and finalists.

In mono-prints, drawings and paintings, Brett Whiteley paid tribute to Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Bob Dylan and Arthur Rimbaud as subject and inspiration.

Masterpieces by the two leading figures of Mexican 20th-century art, drawn from the renowned collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman.

Discover the Gallery’s historic connections with the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and the Garden Palace.

The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes is an annual exhibition eagerly anticipated by artists and audiences alike.

Tracey Moffatt is one of Australia’s most influential artists and the Gallery has a substantial collection of her work, including the photographic series Laudanum and Plantation and the montage videos Love and Other.

From figurative painting to video installation and architectural invention, this exhibition showcases a diverse range of media and presents a cross-section of contemporary approaches to artmaking.

From western France as seen by Claude Monet through to David Hockney’s Yorkshire, these paintings from the Gallery’s collection offer a journey through what critic Robert Hughes called ‘the landscape of pleasure’.

Discover the golden age of China with treasures of gold, silver and glass, as well as ceramics, sculptures and mural paintings from the Tang Empire.

The Biennale of Sydney is Australia’s much-anticipated major contemporary art event. This latest edition focuses on how the common distinction between the virtual and the physical has become ever more elusive.

Celebrates the playful and dynamic ways in which modern artists have used colour, from Roy de Maistre’s pioneering colour wheels to the vibrant sculptural 'Splotches’ of Sol LeWitt.

Drawn from the Gallery’s collection, the photographs in this exhibition feature representational forms that have been produced by the direct contact between subject and material – whether fabric, plaster or wax.

A dynamic and popular exhibition featuring a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts 2015.

Brett Whiteley travelled extensively throughout his life, setting down his experiences in charcoal, photographs and paint – a visual diary of Paris, New York, Tokyo and Tangier.

Works from artists across the globe who give voice to those silenced by often unacknowledged events, such as massacres, ethnic cleansing, cultural displacement and political force.

Places major European paintings from the Gallery’s collection in dialogue with a changing selection of artworks from our rich holdings of modern prints, drawings and photographs.

This exhibition, now in its second stage, continues to bring old and new together in a series of dynamic conversations.

Celebrates the Aboriginal culture of south-east Australia by exploring one particular strand of Koori art practice – the use of line by male artists.

Experience the grandeur of masterpieces by some of the greatest names in European art including Botticelli, Leonardo, Cézanne, El Greco, Gauguin and Monet.

A selection of works by Australian and international artists that focus on photography’s ability to communicate the extent of the body both physically and metaphorically.

Celebrates the remarkable legacy of James Gleeson (1915–2008), who is renowned as Australia’s foremost surrealist painter and poet.