© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
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Behind your eyes, between your ears
Brainwave interactive artwork by George Khut
Previous exhibition, 2016
As the subject changes the quality of their attention and mental focus, the portrait transforms, both appearance and sound.
George Foxhill
Self Portraits
Previous exhibition, 2006
Foxhill's portraits are more concerned with describing an emotional and psychological state than the surface topography of the human face.
Sam Haskins
Portraits & Other Stories
Previous exhibition, 2006
Haskins is known for his poetic combinations of images and this exhibition of 'extended' portraits builds on this approach.
The Cosmopolitans
In Gallery Two
Previous exhibition, 2023
Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.
Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2024
Previous exhibition, 2024
Launched at the National Portrait Gallery in 2022, the Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize is a competition for primary and secondary students, with four separate age categories across Kindergarten to Year 12.
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017
Previous exhibition, 2017
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.
Intimate Portraits
Previous exhibition, 2002
Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture
Living Memory
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2021
Previous exhibition, 2021
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.
Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe
Shirley Purdie
Previous exhibition, 2020
Using ochres collected on her country in Western Australia’s East Kimberley, Shirley Purdie’s self-portrait is a kaleidoscope of traditional Gija stories and Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) passed down to her.
William Yang
Australian Chinese
Previous exhibition, 2001
William Yang's art is about the telling of stories, his work is an intriguing mixture of philosophy, autobiography, social history and documentary imbued with a sense of the artist's own curiosity, humanity and humour
Impressions
Painting light and life
Previous exhibition, 2011
Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.
White Whiteley
The portrait of Patrick White by Brett Whiteley
Previous exhibition, 2012
Eleven works by Brett Whiteley, centred around his scintillating 'Patrick White at Centennial Park 1979-1980'.
Heads of the People
A Portrait of Colonial Australia
Previous exhibition, 2000
For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history
Paris to Monaro
Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas
Previous exhibition, 2013
After successfully exploring the art scenes of London, France and Morocco, Hilda Rix Nicholas settled at Knockalong, a property near Delegate, on the Monaro plain in the 1920s.
Karsh
Faces of the Twentieth Century
Previous exhibition, 1998
Yousuf Karsh - the most famous portrait photographer in the world - has photographed the statesmen, artists, literary and scientific figures who have defined the 20th century and shaped our lives, In this, his 90th year, the National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to present an exhibition of Karsh's photography of 20th century figures.
Of Kings and men
Celebrating 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection
Previous exhibition, 2011
This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.