The 18 best art galleries to explore in Australia

Professional gambler and art collector David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art is Australia’s largest museum. Described by its owner as a “subversive adult Disneyland,” the collection runs the full spectrum from ancient Egyptian mummies to contemporary conceptual installations. From the moment you board the high-speed ferry that sails between Hobart’s waterfront and MONA’s 99 steps, you’ll realise this is a museum like no other. Get there early to see James Turrell’s Amarna – a spectacular outdoor light show that complements the natural conditions at sunrise and sunset.  

Opened in 1982, Australia’s heritage-listed national gallery is home to the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection in the entire world. Its collection comprises more than 155,000 Australian, Indigenous and international masterpieces, including Jackson Pollock’s ‘Blue Poles’ and the Ned Kelly series by Sidney Nolan. The NGA’s extensive collective extends outdoors into the manicured Sculpture Garden that sits on the shore of Canberra’s tranquil Lake Burley Griffin. Try to align the conclusion of your visit with dusk, when pioneering light artist James Turrell’s permanent installation, ‘Within without’, really comes alive.

This grand modernist building in Melbourne’s city centre is Australia's oldest and most popular art museum. That title has been won thanks to the NGV’s top-notch and diverse permanent collection (including a Rembrandt, a Bonnard and a Tiepolo), its fantastic visiting collections, its free tours and its ongoing series of late-night events. Not to mention the spectacular stained glass ceiling by Leonard French or the Water Wall at the gallery entrance.

This former 1940s Rolls-Royce service depot was transformed into a privately owned gallery opening in 2009. The state-of-the-art, four-floor wonderland showcases the best of 21st-century Chinese art, with two new exhibitions hosted each year, each involving a full rehang. Be sure to head to the White Rabbit’s street-level Tea House for dumplings and oolong while you're there. 

A glittering gem at the heart of Perth’s Cultural Centre, this gallery is where you can spend a woozy weekend lost in the throes of art appreciation. Housing the official state collection, accrued since the establishment first opened way back in 1895, there are ridiculous wonders on offer. That includes Balancing Act – a space devoted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Time your visit, so you can watch the sunset from AGWA’s groovy rooftop bar, complete with an open-air sculpture walk, an illuminating 34-metre artwork by Christopher Pease and 360-degree views of Perth’s city skyline.

Known as the keeping place of stories, this visual art and performance hub in Alice Springs holds more than 1,100 artworks showcasing the beginning and continuing development of Australia’s contemporary Aboriginal art movement. Its extraordinary collections burst with colour and history, and it’s Arthouse Cinema screens a fantastic selection of local and international feature films, documentaries and mainstream titles. 

Come face-to-face with our country’s most topical and trending Australian characters at the nation’s leading portrait gallery. From Archie Roach and Adam Goodes to Carla Zampatti and Cate Blanchett, these are the people and artists who have shaped our Australian identity. You can take a squiz at the 500-plus portraits, before popping just across the road to the National Gallery of Australia, Questacon or Old Parliament House. 

From its prime position in front of the Royal Botanic Gardens on Sydney Harbour, this 150-year-old museum stands proud as one of Australia's foremost cultural institutions. Every year, the Gallery draws tens of thousands of visitors for Australia’s favourite art awards, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. Crowds also come to see the AGNSW’s significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art, and its limited-time blockbuster exhibitions, which most recently included international artists Kandinsky and Louise Bourgeois. 

Even before it opened, the AGNSW’s Sydney Modern Project was touted as the most significant cultural development for Sydney since the Opera House. The cavernous, beautifully minimalist space, which opened in late 2022, comprises three limestone-clad pavilions, more than 3,400 square metres of accessible roof ‘art terraces’ and courtyards, and a subterranean ‘tank’ formed from a former Second World War bunker. Work your way from top to bottom, exploring the dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art space, purpose-built gallery for time-based art and towering floral outdoor sculpture by famously polka-dot-peddling Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

QAGOMA is one of Australia's most exciting and respected creative precincts. The complex spans two buildings, idyllically located by the water in South Bank, Brisbane. While the Queensland Art Gallery has resided at this location since 1982, the gallery itself actually dates back to 1895. The Gallery of Modern Art annex was opened in 2006 and these days, the two galleries house an impressive permanent collection – in addition to hosting regular temporary exhibitions. Since 1993, QAGOMA has also hosted the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, which draws around three million visitors. 

A two-and-a-half hour drive from Sydney on the South Coast, you’ll discover this subterranean, climate-resilient art museum embedded in 1,000 hectares of bush and parkland overlooking the Shoalhaven River. The art museum houses a changing program of contemporary exhibitions and cultural experiences, with events, workshops and concerts also presented across the site. You can even stay the night in one of Bundanon’s minimalistic yet chic cabin-style rooms, which have won multiple architecture awards for sustainability. 

Behind the neoclassical sandstone facade of the AGSA lies more than 45,000 incredible works. You can take a tour or plot your own course, exploring the gallery’s newest works, international shows and permanent installations, such as Donald Judd's minimalist, brutalist topographical sculpture on the north lawn and Lindy Lee's six-metre metal ovoid sculpture, 'The Life of Stars'. The AGSA also hosts the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art every two years, the Ramsay Art Prize for artists under 40 and Tarnanthi, a festival of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.

This torch bearer for Australian modernism is comprised of three core buildings – Heide I, II and III – as well as extensive gardens and an impressive sculpture park. The museum is filled with history, boasting more than 3,700 works of art spanning modernism, figurative, abstract, expressionist amd realist pieces. Heide’s history, as the former home of art patrons John and Sunday Reed, is as intriguing as its art, and you can learn more about it on one of museum’s guided tours hosted daily at 2pm. Pack a picnic to enjoy in the gardens after viewing the galleries.

You’ll want to tiptoe around this custom-designed contemporary gallery dedicated to all things glass in Wagga Wagga. Start on the ground floor for a history lesson about the gallery and a general background on studio art glass in Australia, then head upstairs to explore its ever-growing collection of 700 glass works. 

Bendigo Art Gallery was founded all the way back in 1887, but its collection is anything but dated. Sure, the gallery features works from as far back as the 1850s and the gold rush, but in recent years it's also developed something of a reputation for hosting cutting-edge fashion exhibitions on Mary Quant, Balenciaga and contemporary Indigenous designers. While in the area, it's also worth checking out the Golden Dragon Museum (it's just a quick walk from the gallery through Rosalind Park). 

Perched on Circular Quay and open six days a week, the MCA is Sydney's home of new age and left-of-centre art. The waterside museum was overhauled from head to toe (well, almost) in 2011 and born again in 2012 with double the floor space at its command, including a swish new rooftop café, high-tech education centre and a lush sculpture terrace. You’ll never be bored at the MCA with its depth and range of ever-expanding collections, and exhibitions from renowned international contemporary artists, like Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama and Doug Aitken. 

The name says it all. Set up in the mid-80s as a not-for-profit exhibition and resource centre, the CCP still holds photography courses for beginners and those wanting to further their skills. There are five spaces within the building and at night, especially if you’re drinking at the Marquis of Lorne, you’ll view a range of works from emerging and established photographers from the Night Projection Window (visible from the street after dark).

One of Australia's most visited regional public art galleries, MAMA, is a cultural highlight of regional Australia. The museum’s program is a mix of self-curated exhibitions alongside partnership exhibitions from state and national museums and galleries. MAMA’s permanent collection has a strong focus on photography, developed through acquisitions from the biennial National Photography Prize, and contains almost 3,000 items, including works by significant Australian artists.