National Gallery of Victoria facts for kids
NGV International on St Kilda Road in Southbank
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| Established | 24 May 1861 |
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| Location | Southbank, Victoria, Australia |
| Type | Art museum |
| Visitors | 3,210,000 (2017–18) |
| Public transit access | Flinders Street station Tram routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 |
| Official name | National Gallery of Victoria |
| Type | State Registered Place |
| Criteria | a, d, e, g, h |
| Designated | August 20, 1982 |
| Reference no. | H1499 |
| Heritage Overlay number | HO792 |
The National Gallery of Victoria, also known as the NGV, is a famous art museum in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1861, making it the oldest and most visited art museum in the country.
The NGV has a huge collection of over 76,000 artworks. The collection is so big that it's split between two main buildings. NGV International on St Kilda Road shows art from all over the world. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square focuses on Australian art.
The NGV International building is famous for its "water-wall" entrance and a huge, colorful stained-glass ceiling. A third building, The Fox: NGV Contemporary, is planned to open in 2028. It will become Australia's largest gallery for modern art.
History of the NGV
How the Gallery Began
In the 1850s, a gold rush made the colony of Victoria very wealthy. People in the growing city of Melbourne wanted a public art gallery. In 1861, the Museum of Art opened inside what is now the State Library of Victoria.
At first, it only displayed plaster copies of famous sculptures. Soon, the gallery began buying original paintings by British and local artists. On May 24, 1874, the first special gallery room, the McArthur Gallery, opened. A year later, the museum was renamed the National Gallery of Victoria.
The gallery also started an art school in 1867. Many of its students became some of Australia's most important artists.
A New Home for Art
The gallery's collection grew quickly, especially thanks to the Felton Bequest. This was a large amount of money left by Alfred Felton in 1904. His gift has been used to buy over 15,000 artworks for the NGV.
For many years, the gallery planned to build a new, permanent home. In 1960, architect Roy Grounds was chosen to design it. The new building on St Kilda Road opened in 1968. It is known for its beautiful bluestone walls and the amazing stained-glass ceiling in the Great Hall.
In the late 1990s, the building was updated. It reopened in 2003 as NGV International. Around the same time, a second site, the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, opened at Federation Square to display Australian art.
The NGV's Locations
The NGV's art is spread across two main sites, with a third one on the way.
NGV International
Located on St Kilda Road, this is the home of the NGV's international collection. You can see art from Europe, Asia, America, and Oceania. The building has a famous water-wall at its entrance, where water flows down a huge glass window.
Behind the building is a sculpture garden. This outdoor space features large art installations that change each year.
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
This gallery is located at Federation Square. It is dedicated to Australian art, from Indigenous art to modern works. The collection shows the history of art in Australia.
The gallery has over 25,000 Australian artworks. It pays special attention to the art of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Fox: NGV Contemporary
In 2018, the government announced plans for a new gallery for contemporary art. It will be built in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, near the other NGV buildings. The gallery was named The Fox: NGV Contemporary after a record-breaking $100 million donation from Paula and Lindsay Fox.
When it opens in 2028, it will be Australia's largest gallery for contemporary art and design.
The Art Collections
The NGV has one of the most impressive art collections in Australia.
Australian Art
The Australian collection includes art by Indigenous artists and works from the colonial period. It also features famous paintings from the Heidelberg School, a group of Australian artists who painted in an Impressionist style.
Key artworks include Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams and Frederick McCubbin's The Pioneer. The collection features many important Australian artists, such as Sidney Nolan, Arthur Streeton, and Grace Cossington Smith.
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Aboriginal shields
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The Buffalo Ranges (1864) by Nicholas Chevalier
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Arthur Streeton, The purple noon's transparent might, 1896
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E. Phillips Fox, The Lesson, 1912
International Art
The international collection features art from all over the world. It includes ancient Greek vases, Egyptian artifacts, and famous European paintings.
You can see works by world-famous artists like Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, and Dalí. One of the most famous sculptures is an early cast of The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. The gallery also has a rare portrait of Lucrezia Borgia that was painted while she was alive.
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Rembrandt, Two old men disputing, 1628
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Claude Monet, Vétheuil, 1879
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Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1884
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John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1891
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Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre, morning, cloudy weather, 1897
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Photography
In 1967, the NGV was one of the first public galleries in the world to create a special department for photography. Today, it holds over 15,000 photographs. The collection includes works by famous Australian and international photographers.
Prints and Drawings
This department looks after about one-third of the gallery's entire collection. It has one of the world's best collections of prints by Dürer. It also has many works by William Blake, including his watercolor illustrations for the book Divine Comedy.
Special Exhibitions
The NGV is famous for hosting large, temporary exhibitions that attract huge crowds.
Melbourne Winter Masterpieces
Every winter, the NGV hosts a major exhibition called the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces. These shows often feature famous artworks from museums around the world. Past exhibitions have included works by Van Gogh, Picasso, and treasures from the Terracotta Army.
The Van Gogh and the Seasons exhibition in 2017 was a huge success. It became the most popular ticketed exhibition in the gallery's history at the time.
NGV Triennial
The NGV Triennial is a huge festival of contemporary art and design from around the world. The first one was held in 2017 and was visited by almost 1.3 million people. The event happens every three years and showcases amazing new works by over 100 artists and designers.
See also
In Spanish: Galería Nacional de Victoria para niños
- List of national galleries
- List of largest art museums
