Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (must see)

The Art Gallery of New South Wales stands as one of Australia’s foremost public art museums, located on the edge of The Domain overlooking Woolloomooloo Bay. Established in 1871, it began as a modest venue for colonial art and evolved into a major cultural institution that reflects both the breadth of Australian creativity and its global connections.

The gallery’s main building, with its neoclassical sandstone façade completed in 1909, embodies the civic ideals of the early 20th century—elevating art as a shared public experience. Behind its formal exterior, the interior spaces unfold into high-ceilinged galleries illuminated by natural light, designed to balance solemnity with openness.

The collection encompasses more than a century of Australian art, from early colonial landscapes to bold expressions of modern and contemporary practice. A defining feature is its substantial Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection, which includes traditional works, bark paintings, and contemporary pieces that engage with identity, memory, and Country.

Alongside this are European paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance to Impressionism, and an extensive Asian art collection that reflects cross-cultural exchange—featuring Japanese screens, Chinese ceramics, and Indian miniatures. Together, these collections reveal the gallery’s long-standing commitment to representing diverse artistic traditions.

In 2022, the opening of the Sydney Modern Project marked a transformative moment in the gallery’s history. Designed by the Japanese architectural firm SANAA, the expansion added a series of glass and concrete pavilions that step down the landscape toward the harbour. These new spaces showcase contemporary and large-scale installations, while a repurposed World War II oil tank provides a dramatic subterranean gallery. The project integrates outdoor terraces and sculpture gardens, extending the experience beyond the walls of the museum.