Collection

The Queensland Art Gallery houses a significant collection of more than 13 000 Australian and international paintings, sculptures, decorative art objects, multimedia installations, and works on paper. Art museums are defined by the quality and significance of their collections. Consequently, the expansion and preservation of the art collection is part of the Queensland Art Gallery's mission. This has been the case since the first work was purchased in 1895. Many of the works acquired by the Gallery in those early decades, such as Blandford Fletcher's Evicted 1887 and Under the Jacaranda 1903 by R. Godfrey Rivers, remain among the 'old favourites' in the Collection. Historically, the Gallery's collecting has taken place across such traditional areas, however, in the past 20 years the focus has shifted towards the representation of modern and contemporary cultures. As a result, the Queensland Art Gallery is now distinguished for its growing collections of contemporary Australian art, Indigenous Australian art, and the art of the Asia-Pacific region.

The Queensland Art Gallery's collections are central to its varied activities in the community. The diverse exhibitions, publications and collecting practices that form the core business of the Gallery help define us as individuals, communities and cultures. The Gallery has recently embarked on one of the most exciting periods in its 100-year history, with the opening of its second site — the Gallery of Modern Art — in December 2006. By refining its collecting policy, reaffirming its commitment to contemporary art and dramatically reshaping modes of collection display and interpretation, the Gallery is endeavouring to increase access to, and understanding of, its principal resource ― its Collection.

The contemporary Asian and Pacific collections are available online with the support of the Gordon Darling Foundation.

Contact us

Phone: + 61 (0)7 3840 7303
Fax: + 61 (0)7 3844 8865
Email: collection@qag.qld.gov.au