The collection display includes a wide selection of portraits that tell extraordinary stories of encounter, exploration, independence, individuality and achievement in Australia.

From Shakespeare to Winehouse, Darwin to Dickens, the Beatles, Brontë sisters and Beckham, the National Portrait Gallery London holds the world’s most extensive collection of portraits.

Take a 30 minute tour of the Portrait Gallery exploring the collection and the building.

Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.

To celebrate Reconciliation week, our free highlights tours will reflect on Australia’s history of challenges and change, and the people who drove us forward.

Join Associate Curator, Rebecca Ray and Curator, Collection & Research, Joanna Gilmour as they explore First Nations activists in our collection, celebrating their continual culture, identity, strength and resilience.

Join Pure Pod founder, Kelli Donovan, and repurpose your own pair of jeans.

Take a 30 minute tour of the Portrait Gallery exploring the collection and the building.

The remarkable story of one of the true icons of our time, Vivienne Westwood. PG (2018), Directed by Lorna Tucker, 83min.

Come on a mystery tour to explore a few of Sandra Bruce’s (Director, Exhibitions & Collections) favourite British portraits in Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Come on a journey of exploration to celebrate World Oceans Day! Join artists Dr Sarah Kachovich, Megan Cope and Jiani Sheng in conversation with NPG Exhibitions Curator Penny Grist.

Calling all glam-punks, royal-rebels and glitzy-queens!

Draw while listening to the Uccellini Recorder Ensemble.

Join us for our film series exploring themes, stories and lives celebrated in our special exhibition Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London.  

Dive into the world of frills, feathers and fatigues as we discuss the importance of costume in Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Listen in on our tour for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Join us in the Gallery as we explore artworks from our special exhibition, Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London with audio descriptions.

As we approach the end of our time with Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London, let’s get all spooky, light our candelabras and delve into the stories of those in the exhibition who met a gruesome, untimely end...

Paying homage to musicians adorning our walls, the ACT Youth Orchestra will delight us with orchestral arrangements of Rehab by Amy Winehouse, Space Oddity by David Bowie, and some classics from the Beatles.

Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.

Join us for an exclusive preview of the Darling Portrait Prize and National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 for Friends.

The Darling Portrait Prize is a national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015). The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Little Darlings is for primary and secondary students, with four separate categories across Kindergarten to Year 12. Responding to the theme ‘identity’, students painted, drew, photographed, printed or combined all of these to make their portrait.

Experience the very best new portrait paintings and photographs from across Australia.

A YGen to IGen Across Borders project by Newcastle’s Catapult Choreographic Hub, Canberra’s Australian Dance Party and QL2 Dance.

Join us from wherever you are for a close look at a few of the stunning portraits in the brand new exhibition, Darling Portrait Prize 2022.

Join Joanna Gilmour, Sheridan Burnett and Penny Grist as they reveal the exclusive secrets behind bringing Shakespeare and his friends from London to Canberra.

Join us from wherever you are for our Curator, Joanna Gilmour in conversation with Jennifer Higgie, author of ‘The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience, Five Hundred Years of Women’s Self Portraits’.

Join Australian photography curator, historian and writer, Helen Ennis for a conversation about photographers challenging the conventions of personal and public space in their portraits.

Calling on Canberra Cathies! Help celebrate Canberra’s sixth The Most Wuthering Heights Day ever and our special exhibition, Shakespeare to Winehouse, featuring a beautiful portrait of the Brontë sisters.

This school holidays, remember to hop (like Peter Rabbit) into our play plot! Inspired by Beatrix Potter’s portrait in our special exhibition, Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Can’t come to us? Join us online and celebrate NAIDOC week with a reading of Ceremony: Welcome to Our Country written by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing.

Are you aged between 4 and 8 years old? Why not join us in the galleries to explore portraits through drawing and creative activity?

From pearls, jewels and silk to a self-portrait all about flesh, join us for a feast of portraits from Shakespeare to Winehouse where opulence, prowess and oil painting collide.

Come and celebrate NAIDOC week with a reading of Ceremony: Welcome to Our Country written by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing, followed by some colourful and playful activities.

Celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples this NAIDOC week and join Ronnie Jordan a Kalkadoon Pitta Pitta woman, who will share her traditional ecological knowledge with you.

Are you aged between 4 and 8 years old? Why not join us in the galleries to explore portraits through drawing and creative activity?

Are you tyred? Unable to sleep? Been feeling a sudden urge to wear lycra? Yes it’s Tour de France time!

Explore the main collection before our usual opening hours. We welcome anyone of any age who would benefit from a more relaxed gallery experience. We’ll have low sensory spaces, quiet areas and a creative activity for families to enjoy together.

Join Sandra Bruce, Director Collection & Exhibitions, and Rebecca Ray, Associate Curator, as they explore some of their favourite portraits in our exciting new exhibitions.

Put on your growing up, growing old, growing into glasses and come along for the ride as we look at some portraits from the National Photographic Portrait Prize and Darling Portrait Prize.

Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.

Fire up your brain and fingers this winter and make a no-knit neuron! Artists Pat Pillai and Rita Pearce of Neural Knitworks – craft a healthy brain will help you discover connections between art and brain health.

An opportunity to take it slow, come together as a community, engaging with art and each other.

Celebrate the change in the seasons, the joy of art and coming together as a community in the warmth of the National Portrait Gallery!

An opportunity to take it slow, come together as a community, engaging with art and each other.

Boost your creativity and build a toolkit of practical strategies to develop positive creative learning experiences for your students.

Draw while listening to the Pop Up Choir, singing songs that will leave your toes tapping and heart full.

An opportunity to take it slow, come together as a community, engaging with art and each other.

Join us in the Gallery as we explore the collection with our tour for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Sighted companions and guide dogs are more than welcome.

Join award winning writer, illustrator, musician and composer Matt Ottley for an intimate conversation focussed on his latest ground-breaking work, The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness, about one boy’s journey into mental illness.

Join award winning writer, illustrator, musician and composer Matt Ottley for an intimate conversation focussed on his latest ground-breaking work, The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness, about one boy’s journey into mental illness.

An opportunity to take it slow, come together as a community, engaging with art and each other.

Little Faces is for babies and toddlers (with their grown up) to play, sing and have fun discovering a portrait together.

An opportunity to take it slow, come together as a community, engaging with art and each other.

Draw while listening to a gentle sound work based on mandolin and electronics with sound artist Lynden Bassett.

Featuring more than two-hundred works by Australian artists, the exhibition explores our inner worlds and outer selves, as well as issues of sociability, intimacy, isolation, celebrity and ordinariness.