National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA; German: Australian National Gallery ) is a major art museum in the Australian capital of Canberra that specializes in paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries. Above all Australian artists are represented, but numerous international works are also exhibited. The current Brutalism- style museum building was built on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin and opened in 1982 .
The following art styles are shown:
- Aboriginal art (mostly contemporary but in traditional form)
- Australian art in the European tradition
- European art (emphasis on modernity)
- Art from South and East Asia (mostly traditional)
- International modern art
- International handicrafts
- Sculpture garden
- Traveling exhibitions
Well-known works of art
Well-known works owned by the National Gallery include the Blue Poles mural painted in 1952 by the American artist Jackson Pollock . The purchase in 1974 was politically highly controversial. In retrospect, however, the purchase price of AUD 1.3 million more than paid off financially, as the value of the work of art has increased many times over since then.
Further purchases:
- Self-portrait by Peter Paul Rubens
- Haystack of Claude Monet
- After Cezanne by Lucian Freud (7.4 million AUD)
- A Bigger Grand Canyon by David Hockney (AUD 4.6 million)
- Golden Summer, Eaglemont by Arthur Streeton (A $ 3.5 million)
- Woman V by Willem de Kooning (1 million AUD)
- Pregnant Woman by Ron Mueck (800,000 AUD)
In September 2005 the National Gallery turned down an offer to purchase Sketch for Deluge II by Wassily Kandinsky for A $ 35 million .
Major exhibitions
- The Great Impressionist Exhibition (1984)
- New Worlds in Australian and American Landscapes of the 19th Century (1998)
- Rembrandt , a genius and his influence (1997-1998)
- An Impressionist Legacy, Monet to Moore , Sara Lee Corporation Millennium Gift (1999)
- William Robinson , a retrospective (2001–2002)
- Auguste Rodin , an enchanting obsession, sculptures and drawings (2001–2002)
- Monet & Japan (2001)
- Bill Viola , The Passions (2005)
- James Gleeson , Beyond the screen of sight (2005)
- John Constable , Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky (2005)
Web links
Coordinates: 35 ° 18 ′ 1 ″ S , 149 ° 8 ′ 12 ″ E