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

Join Professor Penny Sackett (That’s right! One of our very own, esteemed sitters!) as she discusses all things science and portraits as we celebrate National Science Week.

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

Think you know better than the judges? Join in on the debate as we weigh up the complexities of a judged art prize while looking at the Darling Portrait Prize finalists.

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

Join us as we take just three powerful portraits from the fabulous National Photograph Portrait Prize and celebrate First Nations photographers and their sitters.

Lunch? Just a snack? Come nibble on some of this year’s cutest entries of the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Darling Portrait Prize, and the Little Darlings!

Join Darling Portrait Prize 2022 finalist Melissa Clements and discover the alchemy of colour mixing to create varied and luminous flesh.

Did you know we have over 20 portraits of Academy Award winners in our collection? Join Georgina, our Social Media and Content Coordinator, as she discusses her second and third favourite things (after socials, of course): films and the famous people who work on them.

Join us as we explore the story of three commercial art galleries, their gallerists and the significant contribution they make to the arts in Australia.

Art as activism! Join us as we explore how portraiture can depict strength and activism at work, and also be a form of activism in itself.

Join us online to explore togetherness, connection, and intimacy in some of our favourite group portraits.

Big Fella Rain is a celebration of the transition from dry season to wet season in a country that is like no other place in the world.

Join Darling Portrait Prize 2022 finalist Caroline Zilinsky in a deep dive into drawing, focussing on the importance of line in creating a portrait.

Take a journey with us as we uncover princesses, mermaids, and magicians of the movie screen in the enchanted forests of the gallery collection.

What stands out as a childhood memory for you? What advice would you give your younger self knowing what you know now?

Does an artwork need to have a face in it to be considered a portrait? Spoiler alert, no! Join us as we unpack what really is – or isn’t - important for a portrait, featuring works from WHO ARE YOU: Australian Portraiture.

Friends are the family you choose! Join Circle of Friends Coordinator Tazmin Kip and explore some of our favourite portraits of best mates, chums and bffs from our collection.

Pull up a chair or kick back on your sofa! Join us as we lounge with some seated sitters in the collection (see what we did there?).

Here at the NPG, we love surprises. Come along with us as we are delighted, enraptured and puzzled by some of the more ‘out of the box’ portraits in WHO ARE YOU: Australian Portraiture.

Join us to discuss Ned Kelly - the man and the myth. Exploring a small selection of portraits of the famous bushranger we will mount our interpretive saddles and ride off into the portraits.

With the holiday season fast upon us let us get in the festive spirit with portraits that Celebrate! Join us for a dash of joy, a sprinkle of fun and a measure of merry.

Listen online to a lively reading of Do you want to meet your grandma? by author SV Middleby, then create your own visual response with materials found around the house.

Join us online for a vibrant workshop with artist TextaQueen! Discover more about their art practice before grabbing your own Textas and creating a movie-inspired poster about fighting oppression. Right on!

After long summer holidays, we’re heading back to class to meet some inspiring educators and celebrate some teachers from the collection who changed our lives. Hat, drink bottle and lunch optional.

Already longing to be back at the beach, swimming in the swell or riding a wave? Grab your sunscreen and join us to look at some of our favourite portraits of fellow sea lovers.

Join us – clothed or with your camera off – as we discuss the queer history of nude dudes in art.

Join us online with artist Minna Gilligan for a creative workshop exploring the story telling powers of colour and collage.

Join special guest Fijian poet and art activist Peter Sipeli as we celebrate WorldPride from a Pacific perspective.

Join us as we celebrate science with a social conscious. We’ll be focusing on those in our collection who grabbed the opportunity to improve the quality of women’s health across the world.

Unleash your creative side and show the world your unique style with a handmade paper doll!

Join curators Penny Grist and Rebecca Ray for a look at some of the amazing artists in Portrait23: Identity! It’s portraiture, but not as you know it.

Pop on your smock and sturdy shoes and join us for a peek into where artists work. Whether inside, outside or out and about, we’ll look at the places they wield their tools and create.

Pull up a virtual chair and join us as we look at four dazzling daughters from our permanent collection!

Put down the drop sheet and join us from your living room, as we dive deep into the minds behind loud colours, bold patterns and bright interiors.

What’s all the fuss about? Grab a cuppa and join us as we look at three sitters in our collection who have, unwittingly or deliberately, created storms in teacups.

Grab your rucksack and join our Collection Administrator, Renee Joyce to explore the role of place in providing portraiture’s context and narrative.

Calling all fashionistas, fashion-resisters, fun lovers, fun makers and cool creators! Join Maxine Beneba Clarke as she reads her book Fashionista, leads us in craft activities and finishes in a flurry with a fashion face-off finale!

Join a Portrait23: Identity conversation during May! This week artists Mark Smith and Ross Coulter discuss their artworks, processes and influences with curator Penny Grist.

Stretch out and sit back as artist Taryn Gill discusses her artwork, process and influence with First Nations Curator Rebecca Ray.

Pop on your finest as we walk you through Portrait23: Identity. Yes that’s right, we’re streaming live from inside the gallery spaces!

Fluff your mullet, squeeze into your jeans and join our Director Collection and Exhibitions Sandra Bruce, musician and producer Paul Greene, and musician George Bishop of El Horses fame for a local beer garden chat about this loud and sweaty exhibition.

Writer Yves Rees discusses Voice Notes – their Portrait23: Identity catalogue essay about gender, voice and trans identity.

Join us as we celebrate Reconciliation Week with a focus on the stories and portraits of the fabulous First Nations faces of Robert Fielding, Jessica Mauboy, Heath Bergerson and Jack Charles.

Join us as we explore the (sometimes cheeky) portraits of Barry Humphries, and all reflect on the art, life and humour of this Australian legend.

Join Senior Curator and NPPP 2023 judge, Joanna Gilmour for a peek at some of this year’s artworks in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023.

Join us as we celebrate Pride Month with poet Peter Sipeli and visual artist Kirikiti Juna, as they talk about life and portraits from their uniquely Fijian LGBTIQA+ perspective.

Join 2022 and 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist Jacob Nash as he discusses portraiture through the lens of this year’s NAIDOC theme, For Our Elders.

While the 2022 National Photographic Portrait Prize visits Lilydale in VIC, catch Yarra Ranges Regional Museum curator Maddie Reece as they speak to finalists Ayman Kaake and Joey Chan about photography, portraits and their art practice.

Read the bottom line for me. Better or worse? Better or worse? Join us for a lively tour as we focus on (ay, see what we did there?) some of our bespectacled beings in the collection.

Teachers – celebrate First Nations stories with version 9.0 of the F-10 Australian curriculum. Explore the visual arts collections from leading collections at the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Australia.

Did someone say, ‘art workshop with an Archibald winner?!’ Woo! Join Yvette Coppersmith from wherever you are for a drawing session using a range of works from the collection.

Can you believe it’s been 40 years since the High Court decision to save the Franklin river?! Grab your paddle and join us as we explore the portraits connected to this beautiful lutruwita/Tassie waterway.