In the Galleries: Nine Art Exhibitions To See in Melbourne This Spring

Margaret Preston at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia

In the first half of the 20th century, Margaret Preston developed a distinct decorative style that was firmly and intentionally Australia’s own. An aesthetic inspired by local flora and landscapes, it was also informed by global art movements such as post-impressionism and Japanese ukiyo-e. Her immediately recognisable floral still lifes and woodblock prints hold a pivotal place in the nation’s art history. This comprehensive exhibition surveys Preston’s nearly six-decade-long career with more than 200 paintings, prints and sculptures. Importantly, it doesn’t shy away from the fact that while she celebrated First Nations art, a question of appropriation looms over Preston’s legacy. The show therefore features 19 works by contemporary First Nations artists responding to Preston’s work. Among newly acquired pieces are those by Tiwi artists Kaye Brown, Raelene Kerinauia Lampuwatu and Mary Elizabeth Moreen.

 Until January 31, 2027. $17 to $35.

Meagan Streader: Shadow-makers at Mars Gallery

Meagan Streader is a sculptor and installation artist who, as the title of this exhibition might suggest, explores light and space in startling ways. Shadow-makers comes on the back of a residency Streader undertook at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, which has developed her practice of using light in particular. This show experiments with copper, glass, LEDs and basic electrical circuits, exploring the nature and potential of illumination.  

Until October 10. Free entry.

Sammy Veall: Pranzo Di Mare at Florian Home 

There’s a captivating simplicity to Sammy Veall’s still-life paintings. The Melbourne artist captures everyday vignettes: artichokes on a silver platter, scallops on a dish, flowers on a coffee table. In this Florian Home exhibition named Pranzo di Mare, she’s putting on a Mediterranean seafood feast. Seventeen acrylic paintings transport you to slow European days, with half-finished plates, colourful tablescapes and sun-drenched interiors.

Until October 18. Free entry.

Always Modern: Personal Effects at Heide

John and Sunday Reed’s legacy as art benefactors is such that the couple stand as among the most important figures in 20th-century Australian art. This novel exhibition at Heide – the Reeds’ former home where they fostered an expansive set of Australian modernists in the 1930s to ’50s – focuses not on the art they are closely associated with, but on the valued trinkets and other belongings of their everyday lives. These personal effects are presented alongside new works from 10 Australian contemporary artists, working in response to these mini time capsules from the Reeds’ time at Heide. Artists include Tia Ansell, Kirsten Coelho, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Ella Wijt and Kate Daw, who have created paintings, ceramic works and more. 

Until March 29, 2027. Admission with general admission, $17 to $27, kids under 16 free.

Passage: The Art of Atong Atem at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia

The spectacular rise in recent years of South Sudanese, Melbourne-based artist Atong Atem culminates in this first major Australian solo exhibition. Atem’s photographic works use her own body as a canvas for exploring questions of tradition, ancestry, memory and social expectations, transforming her appearance with paint, textiles and other materials. Some works such as Our Neighbour Was a Witch play with photographic illusion. Through the exhibition, Atem’s presence becomes a means of examining her identity, shaped by the historical tides of colonialism, diaspora and displacement.

 October 30 to June 14, 2027. Free entry.

Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the Gum Tree at the Potter Museum

Few things feel more distinctly Australian than the gum tree. Their peeling bark, bursts of blossom and showers of falling gumnuts have long inspired artists. Now they take centrestage in Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the Gum Tree at the Potter Museum. Drawing from the institution’s colonial and 20th-century collections alongside five new commissions, the show traces the cultural, ecological and artistic significance of one of the country’s most recognisable native species. There’ll be works from the Wynne Prize and Telstra Art Award winner Gaypalani Waṉambi alongside some of Australia’s most significant 20th-century painters like Arthur Boyd, Albert Namatjira and Grace Cossington Smith.

Until November 21. Free.

New26 at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

It’s been 10 years since ACCA last held an exhibition in its New series, which spotlights emerging artists with a new commission. For its redux, New has invited seven early-career artists from across the nation: Amanda Bell, Amanda Bennetts, Nicholas Currie, Naveed Farro, Caesar Florence-Howard, Diego Ramírez and EJ Son. Works address timely themes, including the impact of AI and the changing face of colonialism.

Until November 22. Free entry.

a/part: Hoda Afshar at Buxton Contemporary

Last year, Melbourne-based Iranian photographer Hoda Afshar won the National Photographic Portrait Prize for a second time with an entry depicting three First Nations girls gesturing to the camera with their middle fingers. This significant solo exhibition includes that powerful photograph, along with many more of Afshar’s works. Compositions question and challenge institutional power and focus on people whose voices often go unheard. Plus, see Afshar’s multi-channel video work Code Black/Riot, which debuted at the Biennale of Sydney earlier this year and was made in collaboration with lauded Australian artist Vernon Ah Kee.

October 30 to April 24, 2027. Free entry.

Brassaï: Secret Paris at Heide

Be transported to 1930s Parisian nightlife in Heide’s exhibition dedicated to legendary Hungarian French photographer Brassaï. More than 150 original vintage prints capture the French capital’s smoky bars, quiet street corners and creative inner circles in Brassaï’s signature black and white shadowy style. Along the way, familiar faces such as Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Alberto Giacometti make appearances, offering a window into one of the most influential artistic communities of the 20th century.

Until November 15. $17-$27

Additional reporting by Lily Beamish and Gitika Garg.

Past exhibitions:

Cartier at the NGV

Nearly 400 rare jewels land in Melbourne for Cartier, the NGV’s new winter blockbuster. Fresh from a celebrated run at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the exhibition charts the French company’s rise from a small Parisian atelier to one of the world’s most influential jewellery houses. Take a look at archival sketches, rare photographs and 300 designs never before shown in Australia. Among the highlights is the Scroll tiara, worn by Queen Elizabeth II and Rihanna; Elizabeth Taylor’s famous ruby necklace; the extravagant Patiala necklace; and other gems revealing the maison’s enduring ties to royalty, celebrity and power.

Until October 4. $19–$43.

Future Country at NGV

Last year, Country Road teamed up with the NGV for Future Country, a national mentorship program pairing eight emerging First Nations artists with established names. Now in its second year, mentors include celebrated glass artist Yhonnie Scarce, alongside other leading contemporary artists Karla Dickens, Megan Cope and Brook Andrew. The initiative is all about sharing knowledge and creating artistic and professional growth. In this exhibition, you’ll see photography, sculpture and textile artworks from a new wave of First Nations talent.

Until September 13. Free.

Laura Jones: Local Water at Sophie Gannon Gallery

Blue Mountains-based artist Laura Jones won the 2024 Archibald Prize for her portrait of author Tim Winton. For her solo exhibition, Local Water, Jones turns her attention to landscape, in particular the bodies of water close to her such as the Grose River. The paintings convey her signature vivid colours and atmospheric composition, alongside a quiet intimacy as she meditates on the fragility and beauty of the Australian bush. 

Until September 19. Free entry.

John Perceval: All That We Are at Heide

Here’s a rare chance to know one of Australia’s most respected artists a little better in this career-spanning survey of John Perceval’s work. A painter who helped shape Australian modernism, Perceval was a key figure in the Heide Circle, an influential group of Australian creatives associated with patrons John and Sunday Reed. Featuring around 100 works from public and private collections, the exhibition includes 28 of Perceval’s playful and mischievous angel sculptures from the 1950s and ’60s. You’ll also find Railway by Night (The State Theatre), painted during the Second World War when Melbourne’s nightlife was transformed by the arrival of US troops.

Closed July 21. $17–$27.

Glenn Barkley: Arcadia at Sullivan & Strumpf

Like small mythical forest creatures, Glenn Barkley’s sculptures in this new solo show rethink the idea of the monument. Figures lean, stretch and teeter off balance, their proportions slightly exaggerated and their surfaces built up with scraggly texture and bursts of colour. A departure from his signature colourful vessels, Arcadia presents a new body of figurative work, some at a towering scale. A former curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Barkley draws on deep knowledge of art history to create works that favour humour, material play and a rejection of grandeur.

Closed July 11. Free.

Shireen Taweel: Pacing Seven Circles at Gertrude Contemporary

Seven intricately pierced copper sculptures sit against a backdrop of bold red curtains. Ramsay Art Prize finalist Shireen Taweel’s new solo exhibition, Pacing Seven Circles, explores sacred architecture and cosmology, inspired by Taweel’s experiences at a mosque in Dubbo. Currently a resident artist at The Clothing Store Artist Studios at Sydney’s Carriageworks, Taweel asks questions of migration, belonging and shared cultural memory.

Closed August 8. Free.

Are You Lonely Tonight? I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry at ACCA

Between our endless doomscrolling, remote work and bed rotting, feelings of loneliness have become a defining feature of contemporary life. That’s the starting point for ACCA’s new group exhibition, marking the launch of the museum’s Art and Emotion series that explores different emotional states. See new commissions and past work from 11 Australian and international artists including prolific contemporary artists Polly Borland and Patrick Pound and acclaimed actress and visual artist Lucy Liu. Paintings, sculpture, installation and video examine loneliness in all its forms, from the quietly personal to the absurd to the political.

Closed August 30. Free.

Ben Mazey: If You Can’t See This You Might Be Dead or Just Not There at C Gallery

Named Vogue Living’s 2026 Collectable Designer of the Year, Ben Mazey is one of Australia’s most sought-after contemporary artists right now. In his latest solo exhibition at C Gallery, ceramic curtains, looping ribbons, fluted mirrors, sconces, totem-like sculptures and wonky vases fill the room, all in Mazey’s signature rippling style. His works transform familiar household objects into playful, cartoonish forms resembling the textures of fabric. In this show, Mazey exhibits wax-cast bronze pieces made at his recent residency at Milan’s Fonderia Artistica Battaglia – one of the oldest and most prestigious artistic bronze foundries in the world. Plus, see his first foray into terracotta.

Closed July 16. Free.

The Offbeat Sari at Bunjil Place

A symbol of identity, resistance, pride and style, the sari is both an everyday outfit and a recurring inspiration for contemporary fashion designers. This exhibition – which first showed at London’s Design Museum in 2023 – brings together 54 contemporary saris, tracing the evolution and significance of the traditional Indian garment. There are designs from trailblazing Indian designers such as Sabyasachi, Tarun Tahiliani and Raw Mango, showcasing experiments with different materials, like denim and foil jersey. See a sari worn by Lady Gaga in 2010 and another worn by Deepika Padukone at Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

Closed August 30. Free.

XX at Neon Parc

One of Melbourne’s most celebrated commercial art galleries, Neon Parc marks 20 years with XX, a group exhibition drawing together key names from its history. Among them are Archibald Prize finalist Darren Sylvester and contemporary giant Dale Frank, alongside respected names like Nabilah Nordin, Diena Georgetti and Maria Kozic. The show is also a quiet tribute to late artists David McDiarmid and Damiano Bertoli, while spotlighting a new generation of voices shaping Australian contemporary art.

Closed July 25. Free.

Julius von Bismarck: This is not the storm at ACCA

He’s made slow-motion films in hurricanes and wildfires. He’s taken a whip to ocean waves and monuments around the world. He almost died for his art, once at sea and another time when lightning hit his car. German artist Julius von Bismarck likes to play with awe and terror in how we perceive the natural world (and whether or not that word “nature” is even appropriate for our shared environment). This ACCA exhibition – his first major Australian solo show – charts two decades of his art, from photography and video works to kinetic sculptures.

Closed June 14. Free.

MOTHER: Stories from the NGV Collection

There’s an ornate ceramic vessel in the NGV’s MOTHER display. It’s a very fancy baby bottle from 18th-century England – one of 200 works connected to motherhood drawn from the gallery’s collection. The show explores loss, trauma, religious iconography and storytelling between a mother and child. There’s David Hockney’s collage of his aging mother, a bronze sculpture by Tracey Emin, and pieces from some of Australia’s foremost artists, including Patricia Piccinini’s Nest motorbike sculpture.

Closed July 12. Free.

Kate Tucker Fragment, Unknown at Daine Singer

Kate Tucker’s artworks contain multitudes. The Melbourne-based Archibald finalist’s paintings are like sculptures – sometimes mounted on tiles or bricks and arranged like patchworked fabric. And her intricate and distinct steel and clay sculptures are like paintings – with layers of pastel paint reminiscent of cake frosting. Her latest solo exhibition is inspired by tiny fragments of historical glassware she saw at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Closed April 18. Free.

A velvet ant, a flower and a bird at the Potter Museum of Art

Ants, flowers and birds are pretty smart, says the University of Melbourne. That’s why they’re named in the title of this exhibition, featuring works from the institution’s classics, biology and art collections, alongside new commissions. See work from Naomi Hobson, who won the Work on Paper Award at the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. There are also pieces from a mix of major international figures, such as Salvador Dalí and Joan Jones, as well as influential Australian names like Inge King, David Noonan, Taloi Havini and Brent Harris. Each object or artwork sparks a conversation about what it means to be intelligent, and how that trait is not unique to humans.

Closed June 6. Free.

Order Up: A City Fed by Many Cultures at the Immigration Museum

You’ve heard it a thousand times: Melbourne is Australia’s food capital. Now the Immigration Museum is pulling back the curtain on the people, places and history that have earnt the city this title. With two immersive videos and a collection of dockets from 33 of Melbourne’s most iconic eateries, the exhibition delves into the stories, codes and cultural influences behind the kitchens that define the city’s dining scene.

Closed May 10. $15.

Kate Wallace Between Trees at Lon Gallery

Often working with oil on miniature canvases, Kate Wallace invites viewers to step closer to see into her intricate, atmospheric paintings. The Melbourne-based artist likes to explore things she remembers, sometimes informed by photos she’s taken in serene moments or when she’s travelling, such as the view from an aeroplane window or peering inside a fish tank. Wallace plays with blurring the image, nodding to limitations of memory. She’ll present new works in this solo exhibition at Lon Gallery.

Closed May 23. Free.

TarraWarra International 2026: System Release

The world feels chaotic right now, which is one of the starting points for the 10 artists featured in this major exhibition at destination gallery TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville. It’s the first time the gallery has hosted its International Art Series since 2019.

Aboriginal and ni-Vanautu artist Daniel Boyd – one of Australia’s leading contemporary painters – creates a perforated window vinyl, literally and symbolically disrupting perception. Megan Cope uses oyster shells in her sculptural installations to refer to the middens of Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island. And Mexican artist José Dávila presents a major new sculpture.

Until July 5. $12–$18.

Westwood | Kawakubo at the NGV

Carrie Bradshaw’s iconic wedding gown. Rihanna’s 2017 Met Gala look. Charli xcx’s Hackney Town Hall wedding dress. Between them, Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons have established themselves as two of the most influential and radical designers of the 21st century. Now, in a world first, some of their most famous works have been brought together for the NGV’s blockbuster, Westwood | Kawakubo, an exhibition presenting more than 140 pieces from their respective archives.

Closed April 19. $40 for non-NGV members.

Hany Armanious: Stone Soup at Buxton Contemporary

A peeled orange, a lump of Blu Tack, a crumpled water bottle: this is not rubbish. In Hany Armanious’s show Stone Soup, the acclaimed Egyptian Australian artist brings a renewed focus to the things we often discard. Meticulously re-created in resin, these hyperreal sculptures prompt a pause, inviting viewers to reconsider the value of the ordinary.

Closed April 11. Free.