Australian Collection

An expansive reimagined collection of great artworks from our country is permanently on show in the Australian Collection at Queensland Art Gallery.

The display of over 200 historical, contemporary and Indigenous works has been reconfigured and features major new commissions by Australian artists Daniel Boyd, Sonja Carmichael, Dale Harding, Helen Johnson and Alick Tipoti.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines says that the rehang of the collection had been an ambitious but deeply satisfying undertaking. “We have worked to re-engage the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works with familiar non-Indigenous artists in the Collection, to tell a fuller, more complete story of Australian art,” says Saines.

The Australian Collection, within Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries of Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), will also feature significant new acquisitions and gifts such as Arthur Boyd’s Sleeping Bride 1957-8 and Ian Fairweather’s Gethsemane 1958. There’ll also be a focus on portraiture and how it relates to colonial and immigrant experiences, with works such as William Yang’s About my mother portfolio, 2003 or William Dobell’s The Cypriot 1940.

There are many highlights of the Collection that convey stories of journeying and encounter, immigration, colonisation and the expatriate experience. Whether it’s major new wall paintings by Queensland Indigenous artist Dale Harding or Torres Strait Island artist Alick Tipoti; or Australian landscapes painted in the European tradition by people such as Conrad Martens and Arthur Streeton; or landscapes by John Olsen and Kenneth Macqueen; or representations of country by Indigenous artists Mirdidigkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori or Judy Watson, there is sure to be something to capture everyone’s interest and imagination.

There are far too many works to go into in detail, so the best recommendation is to get along to QAG and see this impressive and comprehensive Australian Collection in person.

By Vicki Englund