Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Art Gallery of New South Wales (GPS: -33.8688, 151.21741) is the most important public art gallery in Sydney and the fourth biggest in Australia. Located at Sir John Young Crescent, it is one of the main features of The Domain. It is an Arts and Crafts style building. The names of old grand masters are emblazoned on the front façade.

The history of the Art Gallery of New South Wales goes back to a public meeting held on 24 April, 1871, when the idea to establish an academy of art was brought up, so as to promote the fine arts through lectures, art classes and regular exhibitions. This led to the founding of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1880. Three years later, it changed its name to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, only to revert to its original name in 1958.

The present building of the Art Gallery of New South Wales was completed in 1897. It was designed by colonial architect Walter Liberty Vernon. Its first two picture galleries opened to the public that year, followed by another two in 1899. Then a watercolour gallery was added in 1901 followed by the Grand Oval Library in 1902. In 1970 the Captain Cook wing was opened to the public as part of the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations, and increased the racking space of the gallery by 1.25 linear kilometers.

In 1988, another phase of extension, this time to coincide with the Bicentenary celebration of the founding of Australia, doubled the size of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. As with the 1970 extension, it was undertaken by Government architect Andrew Andersons. Most recently, a new Asian Arts wing opened on 23 October, 2007.

An art theft took place at the Gallery on 10 June 2007. A Cavalier (Self Portrait), a 17th century piece by Frans van Mieris valued at A$1.4 million was somehow removed from the wall even in a midst of a crowd of 6,000. Although deemed difficult to sell within Australia, the piece has not resurfaced.

Art Gallery of New South Wales is on the Map of Sydney, Australia

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Back to Discover Sydney

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel

 PG Food Channel

 Learn Penang Hokkien YouTube Channel

SojiMart Videos

Latest from Discover with Timothy: Gurney Bay - what to see and do there

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

Robbie's Roadmap